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.
Comments
The Patriots are clearly the best team in the league this year, and the title is theirs for the taking. I've heard many people say they think the Patriots are the best team ever. I don't think that is true. The Patriots are dominating an extremely mediocre NFL this year. I do think they are an amazing football team, but I think the fact that so many teams have been so disappointing this year must be taken into consideration as well. Think of how many teams have been disappointments this year: Denver, Baltimore, Cincinnati, San Diego, Philadelphia, Chicago, Carolina, and New Orleans. The Colts haven't been healthy all year, and it's unlikely they will have all their starters for the playoffs. The Cowboys might be good, but the only "good" team they have beat this year are the Packers so who can be sure how good they really are? I can't remember the last time we had so many teams that were suppose to be title contenders that have played so poorly throughout the year.
Anyway, I have no idea if it's a motivation issue or what. Part of it's inconsistency, some of which is due to young players, especially Jay Cutler, and injuries, like to Javon Walker, who was probably our best offensive player last year. Plus Champ Bailey's not as good as last year, though I think that says more about how amazing he was in 2006.
I completely agree that the Patriots are doing great in a year with little real competition. That's a great point. (New England has played pretty tough teams in Pittsburgh and Indy, though.) I don't think they're the best team ever, but if they go 19-0, they're definitely better than the '72 Dolphins.