A Near-perfect Team With A Less-than-perfect Image

TDJets72027 · Nov 25, 2007

There is no such thing as a perfect game. That's what their redoubtable, hooded coach, Bill Belichick, tells them each week after they've dominated another opponent.
Globe graphic Patriots' margin of victory
more stories like this

But the Patriots may be as close to flawless as any team in the history of professional football.

Already the National Football League's team of the decade as winners of three Super Bowls since 2001, New England has become a team for the ages. The Patriots, 10-0 entering tonight's game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Gillette Stadium, are threatening to become only the second team in NFL history to author an undefeated season, joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the first since the league adopted a 16-game regular-season schedule in 1978.

The prospect of going undefeated is impressive enough, but it's how the Patriots have gone about it that has turned their pursuit of perfection into must-see TV.

In a league that prides itself on parity and close games, the Patriots, led by quarterback Tom Brady and rehabilitated wide receiver Randy Moss, have turned heads, bruised egos, and sparked debates about poor sportsmanship by posting an average margin of victory of 25.4 points per game and averaging 41.1 points per game, which would be an NFL record. They have jumped out to big leads and then kept scoring against demoralized opponents.

"To beat them you have to be perfect," said Buffalo Bills safety George Wilson last Sunday, after the Patriots pummeled his team, 56-10.

How rare are such decisive victories? The largest average margin of victory ever recorded by an NFL team - 26.5 points per game - belongs to the 1942 Chicago Bears, who went 11-0 during the regular season. Since the NFL introduced a cap on how much teams could spend on players and introduced free agency in 1993, at least 44 percent of the games each season have been decided by 7 points or fewer.

While New England's record is spotless, the team's reputation around the country is not. In September, the league found the Patriots guilty of illegally taping opposing teams' defensive signals. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell fined Belichick $500,000, fined the club $250,000, and stripped it of a first-round draft choice.

The rule-breaking is one reason the Patriots have not been embraced nationally and the football cognoscenti, while acknowledging their remarkable play, are holding off on crowning them the greatest team ever. Don Shula, the coach of the '72 Dolphins, suggested there should be an asterisk attached to an undefeated season by the Patriots, although he later equivocated.

Mike Ditka, who led the Chicago Bears to a 15-1 record in 1985, said he didn't think it was possible for a team to be as dominant as the Patriots in the salary-cap era.
Click to expand...

http://www.boston.com/sports/footba...ss_id=Boston.com -- New England Patriots news

TOP DAWG · Nov 25, 2007

It is amazing to do this in salary cap vs just going out and buying a team with owners that have deep pockets. If they keep winning, players come to you,who want a ring, and money becomes not as big a priority.

Log in or Sign up

A Near-perfect Team With A Less-than-perfect Image

TDJets72027 Rex Ryan baby

TOP DAWG Pro Bowler

Log in or Sign up

A Near-perfect Team With A Less-than-perfect Image

TDJets72027 Rex Ryan baby

TOP DAWG Pro Bowler

Useful Searches