the NFL through 12.0625 weeks

I'm generally against New England going undefeated, but Thursday's game really opened up some big possibilities.

Imagine if the Patriots don't lose and meet Dallas in the Super Bowl and they have won all their (now) remaining games. Or even if they don't meet in the Super Bowl. Just the idea of a 16-0 team and a 15-1 team whose only loss occurred when the two played is kind of fun.

If they do meet in the Super Bowl, either outcome would be equally huge. Two losses and only two losses to the undefeated team? A season split, same record overall, one champion?

I know we're 9 games away from even the easiest of these coming true, but still, it's a mere 13 wins from being possibly the biggest Super Bowl to date. It's a tall order, but it's maybe not too early to mention.


On another topic, I know quarterback is probably the single most important position on the field, but is there any doubt that to be an elite team, you pretty much have to have a phenomenal offensive line? I'm surely no judge of how good any team's line is compared to another, and I'm using no actual stats, but from everything I see and hear when I do pay attention it's the O line that really separates the good from the really good.

Tom Brady never gets touched. Neither does Favre (yeah I know he just got injured). Tony Romo is mobile, but he seems to be able to stand in the pocket for quite some time too. Those three teams have 3 losses combined and only one is to a team outside their group.

And I'm not sure how they are this year, relatively speaking, but remember how there's been a virtual stone wall in front of Peyton Manning for the last few years? Granted, these teams all have pretty good to great quarterbacks, but to have those quarterbacks continually drop back 30 or 40 or 50 times a game and not even get pressured much is just as important as the skill of the quarterbacks themselves.

I mean, I'm not telling you something you haven't heard before, everyone knows the o line is important, but watching the games this season, I'm not sure we're talking about it enough.


Did anyone else hear/read that Adrian Peterson is still the rushing leader? If he doesn't miss those games, he could have made the MVP race a bit more interesting. Either way, it's been fun to see him change games the way only a few players can on any regular basis.