Colts?

[bbinacan]

Will they win it all? I think they will. Please weigh in with your comments.

[Hokie]

1. Either Pittsburgh Really, Really Sucks

or the Colts are damn good. Actually, I don't think the Colts have played that well. Kind of scary isn't it?

[theHandpuppet]

7. They could be beaten by a well-balanced team.

Cincy had/has a poor pass rush and the Steelers were rusty on offense, with Ben just coming back off an injury. But a well-balanced team *could* beat the Colts. I just don't see that many of them right now.

[timber84]

12. If Pitt blows the game this weekend I will agree with you.

[Awsi Dooger]

2. I definitely expect them to win it all

The historically most relevant statistics scream they are clearly the best team. In recent years regular season point margin, specifically ratio of points scored to points allowed has isolated the Super Bowl champion almost without exception. Indy is far ahead in that regard this year.

As a Dolphin fan I think Indy has more of a chance to lose in the regular season than in the playoffs. If you project likely postseason pointspreads and the theoretical win probablity attached to those pointspreads, Indy will basically be even money to win the Super Bowl once the playoffs begin. It's still higher than even money they win all 5 remaining regular season games.

[bbinacan]

3. I don't think they match

the Dolphins 72(I think) season, but they do look strong.

[Hokie]

4. I do not agree

The '72 Dolphins were good but they only had to win 14 games and their opponents had a combined win percentage of 36%. They played probably one of the weakest schedules in the history of the NFL. They won most of the games with a 2nd string quarterback, a great running game and defense. This Colts team would beat the Dolphins 8 out of 10 IMO.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. YOU Are Correct Hokie

The league was in one of those transitions in 1972 when the two styles of leagues were still being enmeshed. Just two years later, that Dolphins team wouldn't stand a chance against the Steelers or the Raiders, in their own conference.

So, the '85 Bears and the '88(?) 49'ers weren't equally great or superior teams because they both lost 1 game? They won 2 more!

That perfect season is one of the most overrated facts in the history of U.S. sports.
The Professor

[Goblinmonger]

10. The 85 Bears would have kicked the shit

out of the 72 Dolphins. Dolphins won by getting 3-4 yards per run. The Bears D would have crushed that and the Dolphins had nothing else that was a threat.

The one loss 49s had an offense that would have been too much for the 72 Dolphons. I don't think it would be as lopsided as a matchup with the Bears, but I think the Dolphins would clearly lose that matchup, too.

And I also agree that the perfect season bone that those fuckers hold onto sooooo tightly is overrated. That is why I want the Colts to go perfect this year.

[Awsi Dooger]

20. Another amazing post

The Dolphins had no other threats? Paul Warfield is in the Hall of Fame. One of the most graceful and dependable wide receivers in history. Miami had excellent yards per pass attempt when Griese felt compelled to throw. Warfield averaged 21 yards per reception in '72 and caught the vital long slant pass from Griese in the AFC title game at Pittsburgh, something like 60 yards.

Do you guys just make this up as you go along, or is there some type of sports based Rush Limbaugh-type out there who spews out infactual information and the lap dogs lick it up as the truth?

Miam led the league in both ponts scored and points allowed. They averaged 4.8 yards per rush and 210 yards rushing per game, which was remarkable given that backup QB Earl Morrall played the last 10 regular season games and everyone knew the Dolphins would be running almost without exception.

The Pittsburgh game that Miami had to play ON THE ROAD in the AFC title game is never given enough significance, especially by the blindfolded types who denounce the '72 Dolphins. That Steeler team scored 343 points in the regular season while allowing 175, a remarkable ratio. So Miami had to defeat a team on the road in the playoffs that had allowed merely 12.5 points per game. Try to find anything comparable among the other legendary single season teams. Big hint: you won't.

Sorry for detouring to facts instead of subjective flings. Nasty habit of mine.

Oh, and another inconvenient fact. Those invincible Bears of '85 had every opportunity to crush a Dolphin team that was far inferior to the '72 version. Came up a bit short on Monday night, as I recall. Actually a couple of TDs short while giving up 38 points. That Bear D that was so impenetrable it couldn't stop a Dolphin offensive line that wasn't close to the '72 version. Miami had the best center ever in Dwight Stephenson but very little else. Yet a running back named Ron Davenport who wasn't exactly Larry Csonka plowed his way into the end zone comfortably and Marino was seldom harrassed.

Unbeaten is immortality. If the Colts go unbeaten I will salute them. The Dolphins will become the first to have done it, not the only.

Normally it's on the political forums that I'm amazed at the lack of statistical or probability knowledge on DU. Now it's remarkably transferred to the Sports forum. So an unbeaten season is sooooo overrated, huh? How is something that's been accomplished exactly once in THOUSANDS of attempts overrated? Jeez, I thought TruthIsAll liked to slant things in his favor. Because it wasn't your team that did it? Probably. The league has been around since the early 1920s. You had a small league with many fewer games yet no one went unbeaten. The NFL counts AFL records from 1960-69 also, and no team went unbeaten there. Obviously a very overrated feat.

[Awsi Dooger]

19. That is one of the stupidest comments I've ever seen on this forum

Sorry for being so blunt but it fits. It goes right up there with accepting Secretariat's Belmont as other wordly without knowing any of the relevant facts of that race.

The '72 Dolphins were a dominant team with dominant personnel. They backed up the '72 greatness with another masterful 15-2 season in '73, trouncing the Raiders 27-10 in the AFC title game. In '72 they defeated the Steelers on the road in the AFC title game, despite inserting Griese at halftime after he hadn't played in three months.

Now you're trying to tell me a year later in '74 the Raiders or Steelers would have crushed them, that Miami "wouldn't stand a chance" in your exact words. That was incomparably ignorant and proves you don't know basic NFL history. The Dolphins were significantly down in '74 compared to '72 or '73. The relevant stats were much worse and they lost three times in the regular season, more than the previous two combined. There was a natural letdown after two straight titles and especially after Csonka, Kiick and Warfield signed with the WFL prior to the '74 season, making it a lame duck year. Yet the Dolphins still should have won in Oakland in the playoffs, losing 28-26 on Stabler's last second falling flail into the end zone that Clarence Davis snagged. Miami played the entire second half of that game without two starting defensive backs in Tim Foley and Jake Scott.

Miami had trump card personnel at the interior offensive line, guards Larry Little and Bob Keuchenberg and center Jim Langer. Two are in the Hall and Keuchenberg may get there. The tackles were also very good, including an extremely athletic LT in former basketball player Wayne Moore. That offensive line gave the Dolphins trump card ability over any opponent and is the reason Griese seldom had to pass, and a 38 year old backup QB in Earl Morrall was able to take over and continue the perfect season.

That offensive line was stil intact in '74 and beyond. The hysterically ironic aspect of your statements is they are actually completely reverse of the truth. If the WFL hadn't snatched Warfield, Csonka and Kiick from Miami in their primes prior to the lame duck '74 season the Dolphin mini dynasty would have continued and wiped out much of what we know as the Steeler dynasty. Miami matched up against Pittsburgh like no other team, with the OL eliminating the intimidation aspect of the Steel Curtain and Miami's super smart defense frustrating Bradshaw.

I realize it's popular to bash the '72 Dolphins. Throughout the internet right now I'm seeing pathetic posters desperately rooting for the Colts to go unbeaten, as if somehow that makes the '72 Dolphins a stained team 33 years later, 17-1 or worse. No one is saying other great teams from later eras couldn't have defeated the '72 Dolphins, simply based on increased size and athletic ability and sophistication. But to denounce the accomplishment or their standing in that era is raw ignorance to rare extreme. Congratulations.

[bigwillq]

5. I think they'll choke again.

IMO

[DaveinMD]

6. I don't think

they choked before. I think New England was a very good team and their defense wasn't there yet. I think they'll win this year.

[joeybee12]

9. I can't see them NOT winning it all, but God, I hope I'm wrong!

I would rather see just about any other team win it!

But who can beat them? If they make it to the Super Bowl, they'll win easily. Don't see any team from the NFC coming close. Indianapolis might get upset by some AFC team (maybe Cinncinnati) but the odds are against that since the Colts will play both games at home.

[timber84]

11. If the weather factors in they will not be unstoppable!

Snow to Manning is like Kryptonite to Superman

[joeybee12]

14. Very true--but they probably have to lose the rest of their games to

NOT have home field advantage. Any possibility of snow whereever the Super Bowl is being held?????

[DaveinMD]

15. The Super Bowl

is indoors this year and when its not indoors its in a warm climate. There will never be snow at a super bowl.

[joeybee12]

16. Yeha, my multiple questions marks was meant to indicate I

knew that wasn't gonna happen!

[DaveinMD]

17. curious

why do you hate the Colts so much?

[joeybee12]

18. Red State--Peyton Manning...should have stayed in Baltimore

...can't say I really hate them, but right now they're my least favorite team.

[kick-ass-bob]

13. My guess is that they will, but...

I hope my Panthers do it!!