Dolphins Run Much More Impressive than Pats

[SF Dolphin Fan]

I think all the talk about who would win in a game pitting the current Patriots and the 1972 is funny. The true barometer is how the teams dominated in their era. When you do that comparison, Miami easily comes out on top. There's an old saying that numbers don't lie. Well, looking at the numbers the Dolphins are the only team to run the "Holy Grail" of team numbers. In 1972 Miami led the NFL in total offense, total defense, most points scored and fewest points allowed. The 1985 Chicago Bears came the closest to duplicating that, not the current Patriots team. In addition, Miami allowed a quarterback rating of 42.5. I'm trying to research that one to see if that is an all-time record. They were the first team to feature two 1,000 yard rushers in the same season as Mercury Morris and Larry Csonka each averaged more than 5.0 yards a carry. New England's run, on the other hand, has been mirred in controversy starting with the Spy Gate scandle in the opener. Now, I'm not going to say that other teams don't cheat. With the type of technology available today (every one has a cell phone with photo possibilities) it would seem pretty easy to gain an advantage through espionage. But the blatant way the Patriots cheated is an issue. The NFL went soft with its punishment too. In evey other sport where a player has cheated the punishment has been much more severe. Marion Jones was stripped of her medals in track and field. Pete Rose was banned from baseball. Honestly, I think most fans expected that game versus the Jets to be a forfeit. That would have been the proper ruling in my opinion. Then there was the Baltimore game, which may go down as the worst officiated game in NFL history. That game raised suspicion about the NFL's integrity and many fans were outraged by the result. Still, the Pats run has been spectacular at times especially in the first half of the season when they were routinely beating teams by 17 points a game. Tom Brady's season has been remarkable as has Randy Moss's. They are the best team of their ERA and, if they win the super bowl, four titles in seven years is pretty darn impressive. I give them credit, but the Dolphins run was more spectacular.

 

[PYRO]

You did your research, Good post.

The pats had close calls and didn't dominate nearly every match this season.

 

[newlife2788]

Great post! I'm sick of hearing about the pats.

 

[Dolphins7273]

The Pats did it on steroids, nuff said.

 

[SabanHater]

Very good post.

 

[Roman529]

Not only should the Pats have forfeited the game to the Jets, but Belichick should have been suspended without pay for at least 4 games if not longer, and gotten fined much more. The Commish covered up whatever the Pats did by burning their tapes....how can this be justified? You have to wonder how many years and how many Superbowls the Pats cheated their opponents.

Why is all of this brushed under the carpet? To me it brings into question the entire integrity of the NFL. But that's ok New England, we know you cheated and you know you cheated. It will forever tarnish your accomplishments.

 

[Stitches]

The Pats had wider margin of victory than the '72 team, as well as a higher ranking offense and defense.

All in the salary cap era.


Just saying...

 

[Carmelo2680]

your avatar says it all!

 

[Spiff]

Why not postpone this discussion until the Pats have beaten the G-Men on Sunday? In case they do......

 

[Phishpunk@WCU]

excellent post, something else you never hear from anyone is we played most of that season without hall of fame quarterback bob greise. earl morrall took us through the regular season and into the playoffs, could you imagine the paties season if tommy boy went down. they would be 9-7 or 10-6 if matt cassell was qb.

 

[texasPHINSfan]

I hate the Pats as much as the next guy, but you have to give them their due - they definitely are superior to the '72 fins.

The '72 Fins had the easiest schedule in the league that year - the Pats had a much more difficult schedule, playing the second-most difficult schedule in the league this year.... not to mention every victory the Pats had was a wider margin of victory than the '72 team - the Patriots had a scoring differential of 315 points while the '72 fins had a point differential of 214 points.... and as Pete said, all in the salary cap era which definitely makes it more difficult to put a solid dynasty together.

So while the '72 fins was groundbreaking and legendary in its own right, you'd have to put the 2007 Patriots team right there beside them with an equally-if-not-moreso impressive feat in this day and age.

 

[Perfect72]

BOTTOM-LINE: This is why the '72 Dolphins are #1

excellent post, something else you never hear from anyone is we played most of that season without hall of fame quarterback bob greise. earl morrall took us through the regular season and into the playoffs, could you imagine the paties season if tommy boy went down. they would be 9-7 or 10-6 if matt cassell was qb.

This is the Bottom-line on this debate, really. How well would the Pats have done if they would have had to use their backup QB (Matt Cassell) for 11 games? Look what happened when they put him in against the Dolphins this year. Jason Taylor picks him off for a TD & Belichick put Brady back in.

I'm absolutely POSITIVE the Pats would have beat the Ravens w/ Cassell at QB

Yeah, RIGHT!

 

[csabe]

excellent post, something else you never hear from anyone is we played most of that season without hall of fame quarterback bob greise. earl morrall took us through the regular season and into the playoffs, could you imagine the paties season if tommy boy went down. they would be 9-7 or 10-6 if matt cassell was qb.

This is the biggest difference right here. The Patriots would be 6-10 without Brady imo.

 

[texasPHINSfan]

you guys keep playing the "woulda coulda shoulda" cards.... Look, Brady was NOT injured, and Griese WAS.

Doesn't change history or the factual circumstances here. Its time to take off the rose-colored glasses and give the Patriots their due. I hate them too, but they're a good team.

 

[Ga. FinFan]

Here are the Facts as I see them:

Just who was/is the best team since the merger? Was it the Steelers of the 70’s, the 49ers of the 80’s, the Cowboys of the 90’s or is it the Pats of the 00’s? I say none of the above; it was the Dolphins of the 70’s.

Now just how can I say that? Everyone knows that it has to be the (insert name) ………. And no one ever says anything about the Dolphins of the 70’s because they only won 2 Super Bowls, right? With so much talk about this I took the time to check the best 4 year span of all 5 teams using their won/loss record. As Bill Parcells says “You are what your record says you areâ€, would you agree with that? If that is the case then the Miami Dolphins have the best 4 year run (71-74) of any team in the league up until today, percentage wise.

The Dolphins 71-74 team record is 56-10 .849% **1 (Only team to go to 3 SB’s in a row)
The Steelers 76-79 team record is 52-16 .765% **5 (late side note)
The 49ers 81-84 team record is 48-17 .738% **2
The Cowboys 92-95 team record is 60-15 .800% **3
And
The Pats 01-04 team record is 57-16 .780% **4

As you can see the Dolphins have the best overall winning record during each team’s BEST 4 year run and no one beats the Dolphins up to this point. I know the national media will never agree that this is the case but I just wanted to set the record straight. Plus I was very curious as to just how this would turn out. Five notes to clarify a couple of things that I’m sure will come up to question my figures or my methods. All records came from NFL.com.

**1. According to the Cold Hard Football Facts, there are in fact, three different ways ties get calculated into a head coaches winning percentage. If your man was coaching before the 1972 season, they're completely disregarded; if your man started coaching NFL ball in the 1972 season or later, they're counted in the same way ties are in the team’s record - half win/half loss. HOWEVER, if your man coached through the 1971 season and into 1972 or beyond, there's a third calculation - ties before 1971 are disregarded, ties in 1972 and later are counted using the 50/50 split. In 1971 the Dolphins played KC in their first game that year and it was a 10-10 tie. As per the 71 rule I threw the game out but if I had counted it the percentage would be .842%. As you see it really doesn’t make much of a difference.

**2. The 82 season was a strike year and only 9 games counted. Don’t worry as the 49ers were not good that year but the span does include their 3 SB wins.

**3. This is the span that the Cowboys won 3 SB’s.

**4. This is the span that the Pats won their 3 SB’s

**5. With all the talk about John Beck and his age I just thought about the fact that Roger Staubach was with the Cowboys in the 70’s. That got me to thinking what about the Boy’s record in the 70’s also. Guess what, you got it, they also beat the Steelers win record but only by .003% with a 75-78 span record of 53-16 for a percentage of .768%. Roger won 2 and lost 2 Super Bowls in his 11 years with the Cowboys.

This brings me to my last point that the 70’s era produced three teams that dominated that span more than any other three teams of any 10 year period since. It truly was a great time for NFL football. The Dolphins, Steelers, and the Cowboys went to the SB 11 times in that 71-79 year span.


http://sev.prnewswire.com/health-care-hospitals/20080130/NYW11630012008-1.html

This is a link to a study by a Dr. showing how the Fins and Pats stack up.

The Pats are number 1 on offense this year but not on defense as was stated by someone else. While the 72 Dolphins were #1 on offense and defense.

Another side note: The 48 Browns were perfect that year (not in the NFL at that time) Look at the time difference between perfect seasons, crazy?.