FOXBORO - What do you say? Would you like to savor last night's 31-20 AFC semifinal victory over Jacksonville for a day, or would you prefer to start worrying right away about what Peyton Manning and the Colts -- or, OK, even possibly Philip Rivers and the Chargers -- will do to the Patriots next Sunday in the conference championship game at Gillette Stadium?

Guaranteed, as you read this, the defensive genius known as Bill Belichick, along with defensive coordinator Dean Pees and the rest of New England's drive-stopping, run-stuffing, quarterback-harrying, pass-intercepting defensive staff, already are hard at work trying to figure out how the Patriots can do a much better job of doing all of those things than they did in a nerve-wracking win over the Jaguars.

Offense wins championships?

The Patriots had better hope so.

It's not just the Jags' David Garrard last night, and the Giants' Eli Manning two weeks ago in the Patriots' last outing, who have carved up New England's once-dominating defense.

Also included in that category the latter part of this so-far spectacular, undefeated season have been, gulp, Baltimore's Kyle Boller and - wow, is this hard to believe - the Eagles' backup QB, A.J. Feeley.

It wasn't defense that enabled the Patriots to subdue the stubborn Jags - although, to be fair, it was an interception on fourth down by Rodney Harrison (he of the two unnecessary-roughness penalties) that clinched the victory.

Not only did the Jaguars start the game with an 80-yard, 9-play touchdown drive following the opening kickoff, but twice, after starting inside their own 10-yard line, the Jags put together long scoring drives.

There was a 95-yard touchdown drive midway through the second quarter that tied the score at 14, and then, in the fourth quarter, an 86-yard, 13-play drive that stalled at the New England 8 and ended with a 25-yard field goal by Josh Scobee.

Garrard completed 22 of 33 passes, two of them for touchdowns. He was sacked just once, and didn't throw an interception until Harrison picked him off with just over four minutes left to play.

The concern for the Patriots, now just two wins away from a history-making 19-0 record, is that they could be history if they don't drastically improve their defense over the next seven days.

Manning and the Giants put up 35 points against the Pats. The offensively challenged Ravens scored 27, while the Eagles and Feeley - filling in for an injured Donovan McNabb - racked up 28.

In all of those games, the Patriots had to come from behind in the fourth quarter to preserve their unblemished record.

"We didn't play real well defensively," Belichick acknowledged last night. "They took advantage of some errors that we made."

Make no mistake, it is the offense that has taken the Patriots this far.

The Pats have a perfect record because their quarterback, Tom Brady, is as close to perfect at the position as is humanly possible.

His statistics last night bordered on the superhuman: 26 completions in 28 attempts, three touchdown passes, no interceptions.

What was more than a little amazing about that is that Randy Moss, who set an NFL record this season with 23 touchdown receptions, caught only one pass last night, for 14 yards. During the regular season, Moss had 98 receptions for 1,493 yards.

It is a measure of the Patriots' offensive potency, and Brady's brilliance, that a team can take away a receiver of Moss' caliber and still be shredded for 31 points and 403 net yards.

Brady was, without question, brilliant. He was dazzling. He was clutch.

The New England defense most certainly was neither of the first two of those things, although, if you're feeling charitable, you could say that they were at least somewhat clutch, in that they came up with a couple of key stops in the red zone, keeping the Jags out of the end zone and holding them to field goals after giving up lots of yards in lengthy drives.

"Offensively," said Belichick, emphasizing the positives, "we had a pretty decent night moving the ball. Defensively we had some stops in the red area."

New England's defensive struggles of late ought to be a red flag.

The old adage "Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships" became a cliche because, ever since Princeton and Rutgers squared off in the 19th century, it has proven to be true.

So savor this win over the Jaguars for a day, if you like - bearing in mind that, unless the Pats can beat the Colts, 49-45, or the Chargers, let's say, 38-35, last night could have been the last win in a remarkable season that has been filled with nothing but wins so far.