16-0

The New England Patriots just went 16-0.

Tonight's game was awesome. The Giants played the Patriots pretty closely almost the whole game, even taking a lead into the fourth quarter. I was surprised the Giants played as well as they did, though evidently not as surprised as Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth, who were saying things like "The Giants are making a game of this" in the first freakin' quarter. Yes, we're three minutes in and I can't believe they haven't lost already.

The Patriots set a bunch of non-record records, too. Tom Brady, the obvious MVP of the league this year, finished the season with an unbelievable 50 touchdown passes. (Maybe he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Peyton Manning after all?) Not to take anything away from Brady, but with the passing numbers guys have put up lately, I wonder how long that record will stand. Then again, Dan Marino's single-year passing yardage record (5,084 yards in 1984) hasn't been seriously threatened yet in twenty-three years, so perhaps passing records aren't in as much danger as I think.

Randy Moss caught both of Brady's scoring passes to set his own NFL record with 23 TD catches. And the way he broke the record, catching a bomb down the sideline right after a potentially costly drop, was sweet. You'll hear many people mention that the old touchdown reception record of 22 was set by Jerry Rice in 1987, when Rice played in just 12 games. And that's very relevant, but hey, it's not Moss' fault no one else could beat Rice's mark in the last twenty years. Besides, it's Jerry Rice, and if it takes you two hundred games to do what he could do in twelve you're still pretty awesome as mere mortals go.

The Patriots also became the highest-scoring team in NFL history, besting the quickly-forgotten 1998 Minnesota Vikings, who had a superstar rookie receiver in Randy Moss. Again, though, there have been so many high-scoring teams in the last ten years that it's hard to put this mark in proper perspective.

Most importantly, though, the game puts us very close to saying: good riddance, 1972 Dolphins. We could have started saying that last week, actually, when New England hit 15-0. The '72 Dolphins, remember, only had to win 14 regular season games, which is way easier than winning 16. And please, never forget they did it against a complete joke of a schedule. (Since this is HPS, I urge you to take note at that somewhat-dated link of how many Broncos teams made it to the Super Bowl despite tough schedules, especially the 1998 team.) Of course, the Patriots still need to win the Super Bowl to wipe away the memory of the Dolphins.

Anyway, what'd y'all think?

An obvious choice

After seeing tonight's Denver Broncos-Houston Texans game, I'd like to revisit a piece of everyone-saw-it-coming conventional wisdom: namely, how dumb were the Texans to take Mario Williams over Reggie Bush?

Remember, this question was settled for all time last year, when Bush led his New Orleans Saints to the playoffs, while Williams' foibles left the Texans on the couch for the postseason. At least that's the story I remember. But it was really settled the year before that, when both were in college, and when Bush, a.k.a. The Next Gale Sayers, became the highest-paid amateur athlete ever.

Just one problem. Williams has been way better than Bush this year.

I don't mean to bash Bush for his knee injury, which may or may not keep him out for the rest of the year, even though when analyzing someone's worthiness as a No. 1 overall pick I think it would be fair to do so. Let's look at just the stats, instead.

Williams had three-and-a-half sacks tonight to bring him to 13 on the year, good for second in the NFL. That's very good. Bush, meanwhile, has 157 carries for 581 yards and four touchdowns this year. That's a 3.7 per-carry average, which sounds bad for Bush, but actually represents an improvement over last year. He also has 73 catches for 417 yards (a 5.3 average, down from 8.4 a season ago) and two more touchdowns. And he's fumbled the ball a Tiki Barber-like seven times.

Even his game-by-game rushing totals don't provide much room for optimism. Against Seattle in week six, Bush ran for 97 yards. Against Jacksonville in week nine, he ran for 72. Those were his best outings all year, though he also had a few games in the 60s. Despite the hype, Bush has yet to prove himself as a featured running back in the NFL.

I really don't hate Reggie Bush or anything, but I just hope you remember this example the next time someone judges a career path so early.

To be fair to myself, I never said the Texans should take Reggie Bush. Instead I called on them to draft Vince Young, who, like Bush, has had a statistical nightmare of a season. Bush has zero hundred-yard rushing games; Young has no games with a passer rating of 100. (To be fair, his 99.9 against Houston was pretty close.) Young's completed 62 percent of his passes—more than ten points higher than last year—but still throws mostly short, and has 7 touchdowns against 16 picks. Maybe it's impressive just that he's still playing, given the Madden curse.

I believe in Young's potential, and I'd still take him over Williams in a heartbeat. But it's too early to be too sure.

The Mitchell Report

It came out today, and you may have already looked at it. If not, you can download it as a pdf all over the place, including from ESPN.com.

Anyway, the big name named in it was Roger Clemens. That's what we've been waiting all this time for? I don't even know what to say, because this is like the least-surprising report of all time.

I hate the gotcha crap that goes on when stuff like this happens. You know, the know-it-alls who say how obvious it was that Clemens had been cheating for years—hey, just look at his age! (Did these people say this so confidently before Clemens was named? No. And have they ever heard of Nolan Ryan?) But seriously. He's huge, he put really big numbers for a really long time, and he's considered this super-intense jerk—basically, he's Barry Bonds on the mound. Setting aside the moral issues of steroid use (and believe me, I'm against it), I was hoping for some entertainment out of today's revelations, and I was sorely disappointed. I mean, Mike Lansing? I watched that guy day in and day out for the Rockies, but at this point who friggin' cares?

Your thoughts?

Vick in the clink

Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison today, and counting time he's already served, he should be released in October 2009.

That gives us a chance to look at the question: will Michael Vick ever play in the NFL again?

Vick will be 29 when he's released, but there's basically no way he's playing in 2009. What team would take the chance? Basically, you'd have to be a team with championship aspirations that desperately needs a quarterback for several weeks. Considering Vick's reputation and the subsequent PR hit, it would have to be a team with absolutely no scruples. So unless Tom Brady gets hurt in week six of the 2009 season, Vick won't play until 2010, when he'll be 30.

Could Vick be a good thirty-year-old quarterback? Well, he obviously relies more on his physical talent than his ability to read coverages. But assuming he can stay in shape, his physical gifts should not vanish before 2010. He'll still be capable of playing in the NFL.

However, all of this is moot, because he'll have to get past the planet's Most Vindictive Bastard, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, if he wants to play again. So it won't happen. Keep in mind that Goodell is the same man who just fined Broncos coach Mike Shanahan $25,000 for some really tame comments supporting running back Travis Henry's suspension appeal. And remember that this was an appeal Henry actually won. Talk about a sore loser. Considering the punishments Goodell loves dishing out (and be grateful he wasn't your dad the time you stayed out three minutes past curfew), I don't see any way he lets Vick play again.

The Broncos and the Patriots

The Denver Broncos destroyed the Kansas City Chiefs yesterday, 41-7. Jay Cutler was absolutely on fire: 20-for-27, 244 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions. I'm almost surprised that seven of his passes hit the ground, because he was hitting on everything from short-drops to back-foot tosses down the seams.

I hate games like this late in the season, that tease with terrific performances. Too bad it'll be nine months before we see if there's any real carryover. Brandon Marshall, who's been good all year, went over a thousand yards receiving, and broke tackles like he always does. If he and Javon Walker are healthy next year, and Cutler plays well out of the gate, this is easily a playoff team, right? But then you remember that we lost by two touchdowns to Oakland last week, and the future looks much less clear.

The Patriots, on the other hand, passed their second major test of the season with flying colors, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 34-13. Don't let the score deceive you: the Steelers are a very good team. But no one looks too good when the Patriots are primed.

Tom Brady, who should have already received this year's MVP trophy, threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns. ESPN.com has him on pace for 5,040 passing yards, 55 touchdowns, and six picks, which is insane.

The Patriots are now 13-0, which puts them just over two-thirds of the way to a perfect season, counting the playoffs. They're clearly the class of the league, so it's easy to say they should go 19-0, especially considering their remaining regular season games are against substandard competition.

But I think that marginalizes what a great accomplishment a perfect season would be. The last team to make a run like this was the 1998 Broncos, who hit 13-0 with a comeback win over Kansas City, when John Elway went over 400 yards and Shannon Sharpe ended his self-imposed week of silence with the game-winning touchdown catch.

(This was after the first game against the Chiefs, a game which was one of the finest moments of Shannon Sharpe's career. Late in a 30-7 Broncos victory, Sharpe goaded Derrick Thomas into three personal fouls on a late drive. The most memorable were Thomas grabbing Sharpe's face mask and swinging him around really blatantly. Never really found out what Sharpe was saying, but it must have been good. Anyway, for some reason he was quiet that whole week.)

Anyway, the Broncos looked unstoppable but lost their next two games, first to the Giants and then to the Dolphins, to finish at 14-2.

Coincidentally enough, the Patriots' schedule closes with games against the Jets, Dolphins, and Giants. (The nearly-perfect Broncos team beat the Jets in the AFC Championship that year.) More significantly, the Jets seemed to ignite New England's run by catching them cheating in Week One this year.

And then there's Miami. The Dolphins are the only franchise ever to go undefeated (in 1972), and they ended the 1985 Chicago Bears' quest for an undefeated season in a famous Monday night game. It would be fascinating if Miami, which is currently winless, beat New England to end the Patriots' run in two weeks. (Of course, unlike this year's team, the '85 and '98 Dolphins had Dan Marino.) I hate the '72 Dolphins, but that would be kind of a cool story. I can't tell you that the Patriots will trip up, but going undefeated is a huge and difficult accomplishment. Despite the competition, it's still going to be very impressive if New England wins out.