Week 9 Recap:
Vs. W/L (9-5)
Vs. Spread (7-7)
Vs. O/U (6-8)

For the Season:

Vs W/L: 76-53-0
Vs Spread: 57-75-0
Vs. O/U: 58-58-1

Here’s where we’re at via the Spread relative to the “Sportsline Experts”:

Expert “J”: 72-57-0
Expert “P”: 71-58-0
Expert “H”: 70-59-0
Expert “S”: 66-63-0
Expert “D”: 62-67-0
Expert “R”: 62-67-0
PFN: 57-75-0

Week 9 Game Balls:

Adrian Peterson, Minnesota: AP single handedly tore through the vaunted San Diego run defense and broke the single-game rushing record with nearly 300 yards on the ground.

New England-Indianapolis: For all the pre-game hype, this one actually lived up to its billing, though neither team played exceptionally well. New England should consider themselves lucky to have escaped with a win as Indy collapsed at the end. If these teams end up facing each other in the Playoffs (a high probability) it will be the real Super Bowl.

Pittsburgh: In a driving rainstorm, the Steelers came out in their old-school garb and completely gutted the Ravens 38-7 in a fitting tribute to the all-time team that was honored at the half.

Dear Coach Shula:

Your 1972 Miami Dolphins will always be the standard by which a team’s single season can be judged, not simply because the team were undefeated champions. Winning all of your games without your starting quarterback for the better part of the year and with the legendary “No-Name” Defense was an amazing accomplishment that will always be honored. The competition the Dolphins faced at that time was also better, as Pittsburgh, Dallas, Washington, Minnesota and Oakland were also legitimate contenders. Today, there are probably no more than three elite teams in the League.

In light of the fact that one team is presently undefeated, you were recently asked whether that team ought to be “asterisked” if they win their remaining games due to having been penalized for a technical rule violation. You responded that “it was not up to you to decide, but the Commissioner.” With all due respect Coach, any public comments that you made regarding the situation does not honor the memory of your accomplishments.

There is half a season remaining to be played. The team that is presently undefeated doesn’t care about anything but winning the next game. A week from Sunday the team visits an ancient rival who is a dangerous opponent. All the noise in the media about what might occur is hot air, temporal and transient ideas from minds that need to fill the silence rather than appreciate it. The probability of the currently-undefeated team to lose a game or two down the stretch is greater than running the table. The odds of remaining King of the Hill are still very much in your favor. There have been other teams who have come close but faltered coming down the stretch.

Anything that you may have to offer in regards to the present situation does not in any way enhance your accomplishments as a coach. Your team remains the standard and no one can detract from your legacy as a coach. Why bother saying anything at all?

The world is a different place since the Dolphins’ heydays. There was no internet or 24-hour news and sports and media access was far more limited to the public than today. Ideas such as ESPN were pipe dreams. Back then, OJ was a sports icon rather than a murderous thug. The Dolphins were undefeated rather than winless. Elvis was still around. The NFL of 1972 doesn’t relate much to the 2007 version. All that said, for you to disparage the accomplishments of one team today makes you appear like a “grumpy old man” who is living in the past.

Enjoy the Florida sun, golf and keep doing the weight-loss commercials with the wife secure in the knowledge that your accomplishment as a coach cannot be tarnished by whatever transpires with another team at another time. All that matters for the Patriots is the next game.