FOXBORO, Mass. - So it was again, like some familiar TV show you watch every week.

For eight weeks.

Even if you already know how the ending's going to turn out.

Sunday, it was the Washington Redskins to play the role of the Designated Opponent, the Redskins who came in here 4-2, came into the noise and lovefest that is Gillette Stadium and left as bruised and battered as some old, punch-drunk fighter who can't wait for the bell to ring.

And when it was over, the Redskins became just another team to be slayed by that big dragon that is the Patriots, this team that if it's not marching toward NFL history, is at least marching toward Indianapolis and the big Midwest hoedown with Peyton and the Colts.

But that's next week.

Sunday was another game in which the Pats looked all but invincible, taking control of the game early, as if they were some great high school team playing in the wrong league.

Parity?

The NFL's unofficial edict that on any given Sunday, any team can win?

Save that for the PR film.

Once again, the Pats came into the game as 16 ½ point favorites, what they seem to be every week, the Vegas oddsmakers' way of telling the football world that the game is all but a mismatch, even if the Redskins came in here Sunday with only two losses. You can believe Bill Belichick and the Pats all week, all those times they talk about how tough the upcoming game is, how the opposition is the reincarnation of Lombardi's Packers, blah, blah, blah. Or you can believe the Vegas oddmakers.

Your choice.

But once again, the Pats took all the suspense away early.

The first time they got the ball, they went 90 yards in 14 plays, one of these seven-minute drives that not only got them on the board first, but sent the Redskins an early message:

Not here.

Not in our house.

Not today.

By the half it was 24-0, and you just knew the 'Skins couldn't wait to get out of Dodge.

And if that weren't enough, the Pats took the opening kickoff of the second half and went on a drive that ate up another 7:46, one more emphatic slap upside the 'Skins head, just in case they didn't totally get the first-half message.

After that?

After that it was a quarter and a half of garbage time and getting ready to watch the Red Sox.

So it was again.

For the eighth week.

The kind of dominance we're simply not supposed to see in the NFL. The kind of dominance that must have Pete Rozelle spinning around in his grave somewhere.

And it wasn't so much that you quickly had the feeling that the Redskins couldn't have beaten the Patriots on Sunday if they had played until the end of time. It was that the Patriots were so superior, so dominating, that Boston College should have come and played the 'Skins in the second half -- anything to make it more competitive.

OK, so where to start?

Is it with the defense that had Washington looking at mysteries without any clues the entire game? Videogate? If you didn't know better, you would think Belichick has an imbedded spy on the Redskins' coaching staff.

Is it with Tom Brady, who once again put on a clinic on playing quarterback in the NFL? A little here, a little there, Brady is at the peak of his powers, like an experienced surgeon who knows where all his instruments are.

Maybe it's this simple: In a league where it's not supposed to be easy, he makes it look very easy, as though he's playing flag football in the park on a Sunday morning, everyone go and and I'll just get the ball to the open man. Easy, right?

Brady sure makes it look like it, and when he left Sunday midway through the fourth quarter, he had 29 completions, 306 yards, and three touchdowns. He's already thrown for more touchdowns than in any season in his career, and we're only eight games in.

Someone, somewhere might be able to play quarterback better. But it would be hard to think of one Sunday.

Or is it with the entire Patriot team, which simply shows up every week with a super effort, no small thing when here it is almost Halloween, the team has yet to lose and it's human nature to have a bad week every once in a while?

That's the thing.

For wasn't this the perfect ``trap game,'' the inevitable look to the Colts next week?

You might think so.

But that's not what this team does.

All those clichés about taking things one day a time, one game at a time? All those Belichick bromides that make him such a lousy interview during the week, the corporate-speak that long ago became the language of the Patriots? They long ago became an article of this team's faith, almost as if all the clichés are tattooed on their foreheads.

Whatever it is, it's something to behold.

Even Belichick was publicly pleased, a rare occurrence.

``The players did a great job,'' he said. ``They made a lot of plays. Take that, and move on.''

Move on in this relentless march toward making history.

Sunday was just the latest example, another game that was a blowout, another great game from a great team.

No surprise.

We've seen this for eight weeks now.

Like a TV show that now looks very familiar.

And when the game was finally over, the large crowd all but gone, there was Bruce Springsteen's ``Glory Days'' blasting through Gillette Stadium.

Glory days?

Yes they are.