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Hard to see a game they could lose on their schedule

You can't be serious?

Do you drink before you post this nonsense?

How do Tom Brady's nuts taste?

Do you see a team on their schedule that could give them trouble?

I see some teams that could give them trouble.  But I think they will have the conf clinched b4 the dolphins game.

No team can really stop them. The other team would need to get some lucky breaks. It's just the Patriots' aura or whatever. Until Brady and Belicheck retire, it is their division to lose.

they also don't have a bad schedule, nfcn doesn't have a single decent team.  Denver could be a good game if Peyton is Peyton,  but he is starting to show his age.  At colts is always tough. Jets are pretty strong for a team with out a qb.

but the best team on ne schedule was the Steelers.

Yeah a lot. Not like Buffalo laid down last week they gave them a fight. Denver is damn good. Not like the Pats have had much success vs the Giants in recent years and Eli seems to have their number. The Jets defense can give them fits. To think this team won't lose games is silly

Well the fact that I posted this is bad news, given that I always seem to be right about things   :(

I'm in kind of a surly mood after yesterday's debacle.  But this comment gave me a serious LOL. 

This is just one more in the long list of things you're wrong about...

The only time I think I have ever been wrong was when I got the nickname Arthur Sears Henning.

I was right about Suh
I was right about Philbin
I was right in the games against Denver and NE last year when I said don't punt because the other team will score.
I was right in the Minnesota game last year at the end of the first half when I said don't call the timeouts, it will help the opponent score before halftime, which it did.

Let me refresh your memory.

Posted during a 2013 game while MIA was trailing CIN, before Sturgis sent it into OT (and Wake won it with a safety):

Posted TWO WEEKS AGO during a game, while MIA was trailing WSH:

P.S. I doubt you want me going through the live gameday threads to find all of the things that you said that were factually wrong; you say many, many things in those threads.  This line of argument is a dead end for you.  Drop it quickly and move on.

I don't know what you are claiming to be right about with regards to Suh, but I thought he had a pretty good game against the Bills. He was double teamed most ofthe time, sometimes even triple teamed, and the rest of the line just failed to take advantage.

I've found brighter crayons in a gray scale box.

Well I hope I am wrong about this one, because I really don't want to hear Patriots fans celebrating another Super Bowl Victory

I won't go so far as to say I expect a perfect season but we all know Brady and the Pats have a chip on their shoulders. Typically this is not a good thing.

I don't think they'll run the table, as that is almost impossible to do, but I certainly expect to see them in the Superbowl.

Denver has a borderline elite defense this year. If Denver stays healthy (always a big if) they can slow down the Pats offense especially if its in nasty weather. (and I don't care about the regular season match-up that's worthless)

Problem is can Peyton not have a dead arm come January and can the Broncos fix their o-line

Brady is one of the best nasty weather QBs I have ever seen. Not sure why you think differently.

This

Well lets see how he does this year in bad weather with properly inflated footballs.  ;D

Because in nasty weather give me the team with the elite defense and that is Denver, they have the edge.  In good weather the better QB has the edge over the defense

While what you say about def having an edge is true, it is also true Brady has an outstanding qbr in bad weather.

The Broncos might be able to stop the Patriots if they can pressure like Dallas did in the first half.

The Cowboys were not able to take advantage of some early first half opportunities.

The next game is a potential one, Jets are playing very well this year. 

NEP wins the next two and they pretty much clinch the division. 

Giants lose with a controversial call.  I think that should have been a touchdown because you don't have to become a runner in the end zone.

I just don't get what gets over teams when they play the Patriots.  It is like they just want to hand the game to them.  I just saw the highlights today.  The Giants messed up their clock management and dropped what should have been the game winning interception.

You seem to be mistaken on the rule. From what I see, the refs called it according to the rule and the talking heads agree with it.

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/11/15/9740760/odell-beckham-touchdown-catch-giants-patriots-referee-controversy

It seems to me that the rule still needs tweaking.

Giants choked...plain and simple.  The only controversy is the blatant holding on their o-line that never gets called.

In a way the Giants may have stopped NE. 

Every team has to deal with injuries and NE does better than most at plug and replace.  But Brady has been compensating for a duct tape and bubble gum o-line by having the quickest release of any NFL QB.  But his two quick outs were Edelman and Lewis. 

While I still expect NE to easily win the division I see them losing one or two of the following before Edelman returns for the playoffs: Bills, Denver, Jets.   

Pats have a ton of injuries right now. I can see them struggling vs the Bills and Jets defense. I mean Rex is gonna blitz them on every play next week with the Pats injured o-line. And come Week 17 even with Miami out of it IF the Pats are unbeaten, if the Pats are really banged up I'm not sure if they will chase history and want a perfect regular season record again they might be wise to just sit as many guys as possible and get healthy.

I also think Cincy is a team that is built to beat New England. I mean it all hinges on Dalton playing good in a playoff game, but everywhere else they match up well with NE

Yes, Cinci probably the toughest road block NE has to the superbowl. (they don't play in the regular season).

It is quite possible that either or both of the following could occur: AFCCG between two 17-0 teams and/or a superbowl between two 18-0 teams. 

Teams with winning records:

NE - Bills, Denver, Jets
Cinci - Car, Pitt, Den
Car - Atl x2

I think Carolina will slip up vs Atlanta or New Orleans or the Giants but they will lock up the 1 seed in the NFC easy.

Cincy I have no faith in Dalton going 16-0 let alone getting to an AFC Title game unbeaten. They will lose to somebody. (and I think next week's Cincy-Arizona game could legit be a Super Bowl Preview)

NE's issue is if they want to push to be unbeaten, their schedule is cake. But it might not be worth it to make that chase. They might need to hit the breaks at some point and rest a bunch of guys. The injuries are mounting up too much for them.

If NE is 15-0 and have the one seed they won't rest anyone that is healthy.  Guys that are banged up but could play might rest (e.g. if Edelman is cleared at the start of that week, BB might decided to give him a couple of extra weeks) but you aren't going to see Jimmy G play 3 quarters if Brady is healthy. 

The Bills look like they want to hand this game to the Patriots.

Score should be 17-3

In favor of the bills?

But for the whistle that would have been a TD.  Are you even watching the game?

I stepped out to take a shower for the Patriots first series of the second half.

Buffalo should have gone into the half up three, instead of down 7

Now the Bills decide to let all the time run off the clock.

A lot of bad officiating in the game. To put a cherry on top, the refs fuck up the out of bounds call at the end of the game. Wow.  The clock should have stopped and the Bills get one more play.  Not that it would have mattered...Tyrod was especially horrible tonight.

Lol that wouldn't have made a difference.

Also, the Patriots got robbed earlier, as Hoodie mentioned.

I think if you are traveling backwards and go out of bounds, the clock keeps running.  I remember hearing something about that somewhere.

More later.

Why does anyone think the inadvertent whistle would have been an automatic TD?  You can see the defensive player immediately pull up and not attempt to make a tackle when the play was blown dead.  Obviously, the whistle shouldn't have been blown, but the db obeyed the whistle and didn't even try to continue play even though he was in position to do so.

Since the player was not contacted, I don't think forward progress matters.

Agreed that was a blown call. Two calls that went beyond mistakes because people are human and the game is fast to the point of being utter nonsense. 

Seems like the call was blown:  http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/11/24/9790016/did-the-refs-cost-the-bills-an-extra-play-at-the-end-of-monday-night

Not that it matters as they weren't going to score anyway, but this was a reviewable mistake that could have been easily corrected.  I think everyone just wanted to go home.

I thought maybe they might call the players out to finish that last play 20 minutes or so later like in that Fins/Pats game a few years ago. 

According to the explanation, they determined Watkins had given himself up on the play so they ran the clock. While he was giving himself up on the play, isn't any player going out of bounds doing the same thing?

Typical "magic" that seems to happen at every Patriots home game.  Just like the Bills' helmet radios magically stop working on the last drive with 2 minuts to go, costing them at least 30 seconds for a play to be signalled in.

The bills have had headset issues during several games this year.  BB is so powerful he caused the Bills headset to malfunction in the London game too.

Seeing as LaFell is their #1 receiver, I'll asume they will be losing soon.

Right, because BB doesn't ever talk to anyone within the organization.  Because the Steelers didn't magically have their helmets receiving radio earlier this season?  Because this has never happened before at Gilette stadium...

Headset issues have happened in Gillette before.  They have also happened in many, if not, all other NFL stadiums.  Clearly there is a league wide problem.

I would be interested to know if there was some sort of correlation between how frequently a coach throws his headset on the ground in a temper-tantrum and the frequency of that same headset malfunctioning. 

As a Patriots fan I would have loved to have the NFL test and publish the results of every single football this year at the start of the game, half time and end of the game so we we know if drops in air pressure during the game is a natural phenomena.  Patriots want this.  NFL won't do it because they are worried that it will deflate their entire case. 

The difference is you'll hear a stadium here, or a stadium there that have this issue once, however, it's a habitual thing with the Patriots.

Unbelievable with the Broncos tonight.  This is just mind-boggling

We can LOCK THIS THREAD....Pats go down!

Two big calls went against NE tonight, but both of them could be justified. 

I guess this thread should be changed to "Who can stop Carolina".

Currently, SEA slots out at the #6 seed.  If that holds and we have a SEA (6) at CAR (1) in the second round, I will go ahead and guarantee a SEA victory right now.  Mark the tape.

I'm not saying that CAR is at the same level of fraudulence as Alex Smith's 9-0 Chiefs, but they're definitely the worst 11-0 team I've ever seen.

Carolina has been the best coached team this year. I won't knock them. They play smart sound football. They took the Seattle blueprint from the past 2 years. Play great defense and don't mess up on offense.

Do I think they will win it all, no. But they aren't a fraud either.

Called it!

I am now accepting thank you cards for the Patriots defeat last night. On the rare-rare-rare occasion that I actually make a wager on a team that I don't really care about, I pretty much always lose. So, when my Broncos fanatic coworker asked if I wanted to bet lunch on the game, I said "sure." After all, if I lost the bet, it would mean that the Patsies undefeated run is over.

Took my coworker to the Biergarten today for "Dollar Bratwurst Mondays." Total for two lunches (and two beers) came to $12 plus tip ($3).

Worst 11-0 team?  Talk about lack of respect.   They have been playing well.  Are the dolphins the most talented 4 and 7 team you have ever seen?

They're 3rd in the league in scoring and haven't scored less than 27 points since week 2. Second overall defense, lead the league in turnover ratio and have a dozen or so Pro Bowlers. Anyone who thinks they're overrated or doing just enough to get by haven't watched them play. They've been fantastic on both sides of the ball.

And there you have it.

Turnover ratio is the quickest way for a team to have a dramatically improved record.  Most of the time when you see a 1-year-magical-turnaround team (e.g. 2008 Dolphins), they accomplish this feat by being at the top of the league in turnover ratio.  But turnover ratio is not something you can directly control; you can't force opposing QBs to make bad decisions, nor can you control the bounce of fumbles.  It's not a stable metric and if you are dependent on winning the turnover battle every week, when you get to the playoffs and play against teams that aren't in the habit of defeating themselves, you're in trouble.

Put another way: what was the biggest offseason change that occurred in Carolina to improve from 7-9 last year to 11-0 this year?  Same coach, same QB, lost their top WR before the season started.  Nearly all of their key players were there last season too.  So what, they are all just playing better this year?

We'll see how consistent that is come playoff time.

This thread made me think of some of the conversations that I had (with the same people) when KC was 9-0, back in this thread (http://www.thedolphinsmakemecry.com/forums/index.php?topic=22052).  I'd just like to say that while I certainly have missed my share of predictions, I totally effing NAILED IT with KC:


I called every single one of their losses and their playoff exit, and I totally forgot about it.

Anyway, as I said, the 2015 Panthers are not the 2013 Chiefs.  The '13 Chiefs were just a glaringly obvious fraud and pretty much everyone could tell they were not really very good.  The Panthers are a good team; in a normal year where they didn't get every bounce, I could see them as 11-5 or 12-4.  They'll probably wind up 14-2 this year, but unlike KC I'm not going to predict them getting immediately bounced.  I'd put money on SEA or GB beating them in the playoffs, and I'd probably take AZ to beat them too, but if they dodge those three teams then I could see them making it to the Super Bowl (and losing again).

It helps they play in a garbage division no doubt, but they don't shoot themselves in the foot which is key. A lot like Seattle the past few years, don't turn it over on offense and play sound defense.  They do just enough on offense and minimize the turnovers. Nobody on their offense scares ya which will be there downfall, Seattle had playmakers on offense even though they didn't ask them to do much and could call on them when needed. Carolina doesn't have that. If Carolina has to play Arizona in a playoff game they will be in trouble though I don't care where the game is played.

This Panthers team is better than the 2013 Chiefs team. I mean Carolina isn't winning the Super Bowl this year but you are selling them short.

Averaging 30.1 ppg and winning games by more than 10 pts. I will absolutely grant you they've only played 3 "quality" wins (@Seattle, Indy and GB), but you play the schedule you're given and the offense has been a strong point all year. Outscoring 29 other teams is hardly doing "just enough."

It pains me to say, but Carolina looks pretty legit to me. I see them going to the Superbowl.

Wow. That's pretty bold right there. I'm about as willing to say that as I am to say they'll go 16-0. It could happen, but I'm not predicting it's likely. The reasons they have been successful this year, from what I've seen are this: the defense is absurd. You can't throw on Norman's side of the field. Ask Dez about that. He's an absolute shut-down corner and that's made a huge difference. It's also hard to gain short yardage completions or run well with Luke and Davis. Carolina's linebackers are legit. Offensively, they've been able to hide a lot of thier short-comings at receiver by Olsen's great play and Cotchery has been clutch when he's needed. They've proven they can win a shoot-out (against GB), but that's clearly not the way they want to win ball games. Funchess may be the difference maker come playoff time, as he's a huge target and getting better at holding on to the ball.

Having said all that- this season has been so bad with injuries. As good as Arizona has been, CJ and Ellington both got hurt and they barely beat a bad SF team. Anything can happen. IMO, they have the right attitude, of not looking beyond whatever their current game is.

Classic Spidey...ignores the "#3 scoring offense" and "#2 overall defense" and pounces on the turnover ratio like a chubby kid on an ice cream sandwich.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose...  ;)

Well, yes, when your opponent gives you the ball, a) you have the opportunity to score more points and b) they don't have the opportunity to gain more yards.  So it's not surprising that the team that is leading the league in takeaway/giveaway is also doing great in compiled statistics (total points, total yards allowed).

If you don't like the basic stats, why not look at some of the advanced stats that explicitly don't give teams credit for being lucky. That don't give (as much) credit for scoring from a short field. That don't give (as much) credit for winning against a horrible team.

Do that and the Carolina Panthers are still a top 5 team. Football Outsiders have them as the #4 team overall, with the 10th ranked offense and 2nd ranked defense (and horrible special teams).

But their record is not that of the fourth-best team in the league.  Their record is an undefeated 11-0, best in the league.   That's the point.

I already said that "in a normal year where they didn't get every bounce," I think this CAR team would wind up 11-5 or 12-4.  So if CAR had a record right now of 9-2 or 8-3 (which would reflect the fourth-best-team-in-the-league), we wouldn't be having this discussion.

I'm curious, just which bounces have they gotten? What has inexplicably gone their way that wouldn't have in a "normal" year?

As for what changes they made- one of them goes back to last season (as does their winning streak). Over the last 5 game of the year last year, Jonathan Stewart ran for 486 yards on 91 carries. That's better than 5 yards a clip. He's healthy for the first time in ages and has run well this year as well. Carolina also picked up a Pro Bowl O-lineman in Oher, who suddenly is playing the best football he's played in years. Peanut Tillman has been a nice addition to the secondary, but Josh Norman has been ridiculous. No way to predict what he's doing. Finally, last season Cam started with ankle surgery right before the year and rolled his truck over on the freeway midway through the season. He wasn't healthy at any point in time last year and it showed- he took a step back in TDs, completion %, and INTs, and lost 5 fumbles. So, no, you're right, they didn't add a ton of new names, and yes, they are actually playing better.

Insofar as "the worst 11-0 team" you've ever seen, that's such a silly thing to say. There's only been what- 12 teams that have gone 11-0 ever? So out of the literally hundreds of teams to play in the NFL since its inception only 12 have ever made it to 11-0, and Carolina this year is the worst one?  I'm fine with that. I hope at some point you have the opportunity to point out that they're also the "worst Super Bowl team" you've ever seen.

Isn't it odd how the teams Ted Ginn Jr plays for seem to go to the playoffs?

And the ultimate answer to this thread is:

The Broncos could stop the Patriots with a LOT of help from the refs.

Seriously, STFU. You have no idea what you're talking about.

Eagles just became the third team in NFL history to have a Block Punt TD, Kick return TD and INT Return TD in the same game. Plus up 28-14 against the pats.

You can never count the Pats out of any game but I've never seen so many mistakes by the Pats in such a short time frame. They make a great play with Brady as a WR but then LaFell ran the wrong route (I assume it was his fault) and Brady throws an INT.

The Eagles are doing the right thing now. They are running the ball, making a 1st down, and just letting almost every second of the play clock to go down before running another play. No reason to push it when you're up by 2 TD's, especially if your running game is working.

35-14! if the Eagles keep it up. It will be the second straight game the patriots had a 14 point lead and lost. Plus Homefield advantage takes a hit.

Isn't there some stat where they haven't lost back-to-back games before in a long time?

And that's why you never count out the Pats. They ALWAYS seem to get the big breaks, like the football gods small on them at the right time. I don't care if there is one second left and they're down by 2 TDs, something always happen. :)

Hah, it never fails. When all you need to do is go down and kick a FG (of course, that's a tough decision since they have Sturgis), they get a fumble in pretty good field position. I bet they'll get a lucky PI call or something like that, but it is very entertaining.

^^^^^

I noticed a bunch of fans exiting when there was 10 minutes left.  They truly are some fair weathered turds.

I'll bet those neighborhood pubs in Philly are packed with Eagles fans getting trashed right now.  This was pretty much their Super Bowl

I was shocked too. 

Like many of the Patriots opponents, the Eagles just seemed to want to give this game away to them.

Is Demarco Murray hurt?  Why on earth is Darren Sproles carrying the ball at that point in the game.  Murray is one of the least likely fumblers in the league...plus, he's being paid buku dinero.  You'd think Chip Kelly would want to help himself not get fired.

Sproles wasn't the one who fumbled.  It was Kenjon Barner.

The question still stands.  Why not Demarco? Does Kelly want to be fired?

(Was it 34 and not 43?)

Reminded me of my Arthur Sears Henning game back in 2012.   

How to give away games to the Patriots

1) Drop easy passes (Jets)

2) Miss makeable field goals (Bills)

3) Call really stupid special teams plays (Colts)

4) Mismanage the clock and drop touchdown passes (Giants)

5) Fail to recover onside kick and then fumble the ball away (Eagles)

I wish Miami's opponents would do this.

They did in 2008.

The refs helped the Eagles in this game too on the big third down conversion before the fumble because the right tackle for Philly clearly committed a false start.

You make your own luck, dolphins4life. 

Over one game, sure, you get screwed or lucky or whatever.  But over the course of 15 years, you earn confidence, the favor of officiating, and the benefit of the doubt by getting it together.

I think I was wrong about the Patriots always getting calls.

It was certainly true in 2013, but the last couple years it has gone against them.

I can only wonder what would have happened if they had called the false start.

The Eagles are faced with 3rd and 16.  They have to run the ball.  That plus the punt takes it to the two minute warning.

Brady has no timeouts and two minutes to go about eighty yards. 

The Texans got to Brady several times in the second half tonight.