Thanx for saving me the trouble of starting a separate thread. I have been researching the Dolphins' 1972 season for comparison and here is what I have found:
http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/history/1972perfectseason/1972seasonreview.asp
I know there was no bye week, but I was curious about how much of a non-standard schedule they had. *Note - I was unable to find start times for these games, any help would be greatly appreciated. As this link shows they played a Monday night game at home on 11/27/72 and a Saturday game at home on 12/16/72 vs Baltimore (Colts). Everything else was a Sunday game, and since Sunday Night Football didn't exist then, those were all day games. Now they may have been 1:00 PM EST games or 4:00 PM EST games, but this was certainly much less stressful for their bodies to deal with than what the Pats have had to endure. Combine the omnipresence of the Internet and the 24/7 news outlets and this has been a very trying season.
While I certainly don't want to see the Pats lose, in one respect you would have to think it would be a great relief.
If the Pats DO go undefeated this season, it may be the greatest accomplishment in the history of sports. Maybe some Colts fans can chime in to offer how intense and stressful almost going undefeated was for them.
Personally, even though we are undefeated I have enjoyed other seasons more than this one. This has been an exhausting year or me, I can only imagine how difficult it has been for the players. BB giving the players an extra day off may have less to do with the age of some of the players, and more to do with the overall stress.