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Roger Lajoie operates Triumph Sports Communications, a leader in providing editorial, broadcast and public relations services. Roger's weekly sports column "The Rog's Rant" is now available here every Monday. |
The Rog's RantPatriots perfect regular season an amazing featThe New England Patriots are a great football team, but they may not win the Super Bowl this year in Phoenix. In fact, they might not even get there. The AFC is loaded with great teams this year and the Jacksonville Jaguars, San Diego Chargers and especially the defending Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts are all more than capable of stopping the Pats in the playoffs. I happen to think the New England Patriots are by far the best team in the National Football League and they should be able to run the table in the post-season the same way they did in the regular season. But in one game, sudden death playoff situations, hell anything can happen. The law of averages might just catch up with the Patriots more than anything else – the odds of any team in any sport being able to go 19-0, especially in this day and age of parity and salary caps – are astronomical. So we’ll all have to wait and see in the next few weeks if New England can run the table playoffs included. But even if they don’t, their feat of going a perfect 16-0 in the regular season is one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of sports. Think about it. There are so many things that can go wrong to a football team during the long season. A bad injury, an untimely turnover, a freaky play or two – it is so easy to lose a game even if you are the better team. The old adage “on any given Sunday” was created to describe football and it really is true – anything can happen on any given Sunday. Or for that matter, Monday, Thursday or Saturday too. But it didn’t happen to the Patriots even once this season. No team has ever gone 16-0 and the Miami Dolphins 14-0 perfect season was 35 years ago. The Patriots were an astounding plus 315 in points for/points against. The team closest to them was plus 188 (Indianapolis) – not even close! New England scored 589 points – 134 more than any other team, an all-time NFL record. Tom Brady set a record with 50 touchdown passes. Randy Moss set a record for TD receptions. They ran roughshod over their opponents in most of their games, but five times their margin of victory was seven points or less. They had a real scare at Indianapolis. They probably got lucky to win at Baltimore. They could have lost to Philadelphia. They had to rally big time the final week of the season against the New York Giants. They bended, but they did not break. 16-0. Look at the final NFL standings and it doesn’t even look real, seeing a team with a record like that in black and white. And when you consider that the NFL is especially designed to STOP dynasties, not encourage them (with the salary cap and luxury tax and revenue sharing), that the 16-0 mark was done in 2007 is especially amazing. They’ve won three Super Bowls as a group (2002, 2004, 2005), and certainly if they don’t win a fourth in February it would be a devastating loss for the entire organization. But although a loss now would certainly be a black mark on their season, what the Patriots accomplished in the regular season of 2007 will remain one of the greatest accomplishments ever regardless of the final outcome of Super Bowl XXLII. On any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team in football. Except, of course, in 2007. Nobody beat the New England Patriots this season and that is something nobody can ever take away from the Pats…along with their three Super Bowl titles. It was an accomplishment for the ages no matter what happens
next. Comments The Rant of December 10: Email your comments to therog@rogerlajoie.com Other Rog's Rants & Reader CommentsTo read Roger's previous Rants, please visit the Rant Archives section of the website. |
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