Graham's Browns dynasty of different color

INDIANAPOLIS -- In some ways it really doesn't matter what happens tonight at the RCA Dome.

Certainly, to play for the AFC Championship and a shot at returning to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in six years is a significant moment for the Patriots, but in the broader framework of what they have done, the outcome will matter little. Their place in history already has been cemented.

When the discussion turns to NFL dynasties, only seven teams truly exist, although others may come to mind from time to time, such as the Dolphins of the early 1970s and the Cowboys of that decade, the Raiders of the mid-'70s to mid-'80s, and the Redskins and Giants of the mid-to-late '80s.

You can talk about them if you'd like, but in the end it's seven teams, and these Patriots must be among them.

They have already equaled the work done by the Cowboys of the early 1990s, who also won three Super Bowls in four years, and if the Patriots find a way to win tonight against the Colts and in two weeks over whomever the NFC sends to Super Bowl XLI in Miami, they would have tied the Steelers of the 1970s (four Super Bowl wins in six years) and exceeded the Lions of the 1950s (three NFL titles in six years while reaching four title games) as well as the 49ers of the 1980s, who won four Super Bowls in nine years. But even if it ends tonight, no one could argue the Patriots are not the equal of any of those teams.

Even advocates of the Green Bay Packers of the 1960s would have to concede that the Patriots of Tom Brady, Richard Seymour, and Bill Belichick belong on the same field with them, even though the Packers won the NFL championship five times in seven years, as well as the first two Super Bowls. Perhaps by the time this decade is over, the Packers will still have a league championship or two more than the Patriots, but New England has accomplished its success when a coach cannot stockpile talent or keep it locked in his own huddle the way Vince Lombardi could, and did, in the dark days before free agency.

Regardless of how things turn out against Peyton Manning's star-crossed Colts, nothing the Patriots do can help them reach the level of the Cleveland Browns of 1946-1955, either. One can argue about where the Patriots of 2001-2006 fit among the great dynasties in pro football history but there has never been -- and never will be -- a team as dominating as the Browns of that era. In the NFL, they are the dynasty of dynasties.

That was a remarkable team led by a legendary coach, Paul Brown, and directed by the greatest winning quarterback in the game's history, Otto Graham. Together they and the rest of the Browns played in a league championship game for 10 straight years, winning seven. They dominated the All-America Football Conference for four years between 1946 and 1949, and when the league folded and joined the NFL, the Browns proved immediately they were no joke by dominating that league in the same fashion.

Although the establishment NFL joked about the inferiority of the three AAFC teams they had absorbed after the league folded following the 1949 season, the Browns put the lie to that point of view immediately by going 10-2 and winning the NFL championship in 1950, beating the Los Angeles Rams.

They reached the NFL title game in each of the next five years, losing in 1951, '52, and '53 before winning the title twice more in 1954 and 1955 before Graham retired and the magic disappeared with him. As much a winner as Brady is, not even he can be favorably compared with Graham, but no one else can either. Joe Montana? Spare me. Terry Bradshaw? Not even close. Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, or Troy Aikman? Not even in Graham's rear view mirror.

That is not to denigrate any of those great players, who are among the greatest quarterbacks to play in the NFL, but Graham was beyond special, something many of today's fans tend to forget because they are so caught up in the moment.

Well, here is what Brady has accomplished, and it is considerable. He is 70-24 as a starter in the regular season, 12-1 in the postseason, has won three Super Bowl titles, and is owner of an 82-25 record overall, a winning percentage of .766. Those numbers are hard to beat but somehow Graham did it, going 105-17-4 in the regular season over 10 years and 9-3 in the postseason for an overall mark of 114-20-4 with seven championship game victories in 10 appearances. That's a winning percentage of .841. That's also the ultimate definition of a winner and a dynasty -- 10 years, 10 straight appearances in the championship game, seven victories.

Now certainly, times were different then. There were no wild-card rounds or divisional playoffs so there were fewer chances to lose. You won the regular-season conference title and one playoff game, then you played the other conference champion for the title. Then you went off to your offseason job selling used cars or working as a substitute teacher.

Life was slower then and the path to the championship not as littered with potential landmines as it is today, which makes Brady's 12-1 playoff record going into tonight (a postseason winning percentage of .923 that exceeds Graham's 9-3 record) all the more remarkable. It will remain remarkable whether or not he wins tonight.

That is the beauty of the situation for Brady and the Patriots. While Manning and the Colts long for a trip to just one Super Bowl and feel the pressure building as each year passes and they fail to reach that goal, the Patriots are playing with house money. That would not ease their disappointment if things do not go as well as planned against the Colts, but their place in history is already set in stone.

Certainly it can be improved upon if they win another AFC title and a fourth Super Bowl in six years. Then the Steelers of the '70s would have nothing on them. The Packers of the '60s still would, but not enough to quarrel over.

But forget about the Browns of Otto Graham's day. Forget about seven titles in 10 years. That's not happening no matter what the Patriots do tonight.

The beauty of that is the Patriots don't need to be remembered 50 years from now in the same way the Browns of that long-ago era are today. The Patriots don't need anything else to be remembered as the dominant team of their decade, not even another win over Peyton Manning.