72 Dolphins and 07 Patriots

[PatsFanSince74]

Should the Patriots go undefeated, they will have done so against a very different class of opponents than the 1972 Dolphins. While this doesn't diminish the achievement of the Dolphins (the fact that the accomplishment hasn't been repeated in 35 years makes that impossible to do), it does, however, make the potential accomplishment of the Patriots even more remarkable in this post-cap era.

The undefeated 1972 Dolphins played against a schedule with a combined Won-Lost-Tied record of 70-122-4, for a Winning Percentage of .357. Only two of their games were against teams with a better than .500 record for the season (the Giants and Chiefs at 8--6 each). None of the teams on the Dolphins schedule that year made the playoffs.

As of last week (Week 14), the combined record of the 2007 Patriots opponents is 97-111, or .466 (if you take out the Dolphins, it's .533). Using last week's W/L records, the Patriots 2007 schedule includes eight games against teams with a better than .500 record. Also, as of last week, six of the teams on the Patriots schedule would have made the Playoffs.

 

[newton_tom_cat]

Should the Patriots go undefeated, they will have done so against a very different class of opponents than the 1972 Dolphins. While this doesn't diminish the achievement of the Dolphins (the fact that the accomplishment hasn't been repeated in 35 years makes that impossible to do), it does, however, make the potential accomplishment of the Patriots even more remarkable in this post-cap era.

The undefeated 1972 Dolphins played against a schedule with a combined Won-Lost-Tied record of 70-122-4, for a Winning Percentage of .357. Only two of their games were against teams with a better than .500 record for the season (the Giants and Chiefs at 8--6 each). None of the teams on the Dolphins schedule that year made the playoffs.

As of last week (Week 14), the combined record of the 2007 Patriots opponents is 97-111, or .466 (if you take out the Dolphins, it's .533). Using last week's W/L records, the Patriots 2007 schedule includes eight games against teams with a better than .500 record. Also, as of last week, six of the teams on the Patriots schedule would have made the Playoffs.

they also had the best "12th" man possible: officials were in Shula's back pocket.