The 2007 season was the New England Patriots' 38th in the National Football League (NFL), their 48th overall and their eighth under head coach Bill Belichick. The Patriots improved on their 12–4 record from 2006 and won the AFC East for the sixth time in seven years by winning all 16 of their games. Starting quarterback Tom Brady won his first NFL MVP award, throwing a then-record 50 passing touchdowns. Newly acquired All-Pro wide receiver Randy Moss joined the Patriots in a trade, after a lackluster stint with the Oakland Raiders, and caught an NFL-record 23 receiving touchdowns.
They became only the eighth team in NFL history to finish a regular season undefeated, and first to do so since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, as well as only the fourth to finish undefeated and untied. The Patriots were also the first team with a perfect regular season since the NFL expanded its schedule to sixteen games in 1978. Thus, they broke the record for victories in a single regular season that had been shared by the 1984 San Francisco 49ers, the 1985 Chicago Bears, the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, and the 2004 Pittsburgh Steelers, who each finished with a record of 15–1. The 1984 49ers and 1985 Bears would win Super Bowl XIX and Super Bowl XX respectively, and the 1998 Vikings and 2004 Steelers would lose their conference championship games. The 2007 Patriots are also the only team in NFL history to complete a 16-game regular season undefeated, as the NFL switched to a 17-game schedule in .
In Super Bowl XLII, the New York Giants defeated the Patriots 17–14 in an upset. With the loss, the Patriots were not able to join the 1984 49ers and 1985 Bears as Super Bowl champions, failing to go 19–0 and claim their fourth Super Bowl victory. Despite this loss, the 2007 Patriots are still regarded as one of the greatest teams in NFL history, with NFL Films ranking them as the 7th-greatest team of all time in 2019.
Season summary
The Patriots entered the offseason following a stunning loss to the rival Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship after blowing a 21–3 first half lead. After having lost their two starting wide receivers in the previous offseason, the Patriots added Donté Stallworth in free agency and traded for Wes Welker from the Miami Dolphins and Randy Moss from the Oakland Raiders in the spring. Welker would tie for the NFL lead in receptions with T. J. Houshmandzadeh in 2007 while Moss would set an NFL regular season record with 23 touchdown catches (part of his 98 receptions). The season began with controversy, when Patriot head coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots organization were penalized by the NFL for their involvement in the videotaping of opponents’ defensive signals from an unauthorized location in their Week 1 game against the New York Jets. This came to be referred to in the media as "Spygate". Early in the season, the Patriots won their first two games by identical scores of 38–14, and followed up the next game with a score of 38–7. Despite the media scrutiny, the Patriots continued to gain momentum, winning mid-season games by scores such as 49–28, 52–7, and 56–10, as quarterback Tom Brady emphasized the team's desire to blow out and “kill teams." The Patriots set the record for most points in a season with 589, shattering the previous record by 33 points. The Patriots won 12 games in which they surpassed the 30-point mark, four games in which they surpassed the 40-point mark and two in which they surpassed the 50-point mark.
The Patriots clinched the AFC East after their eleventh game (in Week 12), the fourth time since the NFL introduced the 16-game schedule in 1978 that a team had clinched a division title by their eleventh game. In the season finale, facing the New York Giants, the Patriots sought to finish the regular season with the first 16–0 record in NFL history, and did so successfully. In that game, Brady and Moss connected on two touchdown passes, with Moss setting his 23 catch record, breaking Pro Football Hall of Fame member Jerry Rice's 22 touchdown receptions and with Brady setting an NFL record with 50 touchdown passes on the season. It was the first undefeated regular season in the NFL since the 1972 Miami Dolphins finished 14–0. Brady earned his first NFL MVP award, while the Patriots’ offense destroyed numerous NFL records, including those for touchdowns (75), points scored (589) and point differential (+315)