The Daily Poll: Pats' 19-0? Dolphs' 0-16?

     You know if you read my Sunday column on the topic (found here) that I much doubt the Dolphins will stay winless, but that I do think the Patriots will finish unbeaten.

     Inviting you to vote in our two related polls, and then to say why, in either case.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Comments

[ginrai]

I'm certain the Patso will yet lose a game ,and the Dolphins will yet win one. It would be really sweet if it's against either the Bozoton Patsos or those Jets. If the Fins would win two I'd love it to be against them both. How sweet would that be!

[Tom]

It would suck ginrai if it cost us the first overall pick. If not, then it would be unbelievably sweet.

[ginrai]

Amen!

[OC Dolphin]

Man, the Eagles had them right there. Every Patriot player knew it too. That's just the thing though; championship teams don't make the kind of mistakes that get you beat. Both teams played great, the one that won did not make the mistakes.

The Eagles did expose New England. And here's pulling that every defensive coordinator saw that. For all their accolades, they are not all many claim they are. Their defense is just okay. What they have is the kind of offense Indi used to have - score at will. And I don't know that I can ever like Wes Welker again. Can his lineage be traced back to Paul Revere?

[Trenton]

All I know Cote is that on the day you predict the Pats will go undefeated, they look very beatable. I also see that Neal, Salguero, Darlington, Pope and Luis the fan have a better record than you on the Pigskin Challenge. So I'm having a hard timme buying into your so-called expertise.

[BL]

The Cam Cameron / Randy Mueller apologists keep saying that Welker was a good trade for a 2nd rounder and a 5th rounder. But, you can not trade your playmakers away. Welker was the best player in the Dolphins offense last year 2006.

By the middle of the 4th quarter last night against Philadelphia, Welker had caught 13 passes for nearly 150 yards bailing out the Patriots of all their critical 3rd downs and more. Not sure what he ended up with but that is a pretty good production for a "3rd" receiver as the Dolphin front office called him: "we got 2 draft choices for a 3rd receiver and that is a trade we have to make anytime it comes up" ....... please, ....

Not only you should not trade your playmakers but not especially to the division rival and most efficient team in the league. Handed them the a receiver that was great playing with Joey Harrington and a crippled Culpepper. Diminutive Welker is a giant ingredient for the Patriots season. He gets them out of trouble.

As far as trading playmakers for high draft picks, ask the Cleveland Browns who sent Paul Warfield to Miami for a #1 who I think turned out to be Mike Phipps.... who the hell remembers Mike Phipps? but we know that without Warfield the Dolphins of the 1970's would not have done so well or gone undefeated.

It has been a ridiculous first year that this Dolphin coach Cam Cameron has had with his trades and picks and play calling and concussed quarterback friends that had to be brought over at all costs. Scorch the South Florida earth to get Trent Green here, said Cameron. Rookies will not play said Cameron.

FOR CAMERON TO SURVIVE THIS FIRST YEAR'S MISTAKES WILL TAKE A MIRACLE ... he used up all the slack. How does he explain all the decisions he makes and has made to owner Wayne Huizenga? How does Wayne feel every time he sees Welker running all over the field giving the Pats another big play while his team is the worst in the league and has the lamest group of receivers???

[mike1]

BL is right and half of us said so at the moment the trade happened that it was pretty darn stupid giving away the best and most reliable offensive player on the Phins last year. Welker is awesome. Seau is playing pretty good too. The worst thing is, giving Welker to someone in our division.

I stand with the prediction I made 6 - 7 games ago, Miami breaks the loss record going 0-16 and NE breaks the 72 record going 19-0. Even on their worst day, NE wins. Miami has one or two chances to win yet. No one can beat NE. Maybe the Colts will have another shot in the AFC champ game, but it will be in NE and Manning is much more mistake prone than Brady. No one in the NFC can come close.

[OC Dolphin]

About Welker and the wisdom/inevitablility of trading him:

Welker going to Tampa Bay, SF, Arizona, or etc., etc.... would not have yielded the same results - for Welker or for the team.

When you have a QB on top of his game (Brady), your management shops for those last missing ingredients. Welker in for Twillie, Moss in for Warfield (and along these lines is why the 07 Pats are not in the same category of the 72 Dolphins. They, the Dolphins, had a ferocious running attack and a tremendous defense to go along with that predictable passing attack. Those two dominating elements of running, and defense are missing with these upstart Pats).

07/08 Dolphins have to establish an identity. We've been a turnstile member of the QB club for years. Nothing to build weeks and weeks on end. No stability. Nothing to build on. Does anyone actually think Welker would be having the kind of year he is having had he stayed a Dolphin? Please!

Can you imagine Welker playing at the receiving end of a 90's Marino, or a 05, 06,07 Manning?

As posted earlier, it hurst seeing Welker do his thing for the hated ones. The 49rs won today. Here's pulling for them to win the next 5!

[tony]

I had a feeling that Philly would give them trouble and possibly even trip them up. But the Pats buckled down and pulled the game out with a textbook, methodical drive. I am in awe with the precision with which that team operates. 19-0? Very possible, though I suspect that they'll begin to inadvertently ease off the gas. That might just be their only vunerability.

[Tom]

BL is absolutely right, the Welker trade was utter lunacy and only an idiot(s) would have made it. Of course Welker would not have caught as many passes here as he has caught in NE. But he certainly would have caught way more than the lame WR they replaced him with. Just to refresh memories, Welker caught 67 balls last year. No matter how you spin the Welker trade, it was a bad deal for us.

If Beck turns into to the productive QB that we all hope for, could you imagine Beck to Welker for the next 10 years? I'll bet you anything Beck would trade any of the WRs he has not to get Welker back because Welker is the type of WR that makes QBs better.

[Tom]

rewrite on that last sentence -- remove "not"

sorry about that

I'll bet you anything Beck would trade any of the WRs he has to get Welker back because Welker is the type of WR that makes QBs better.

[Noel]

You can't compare Ginn to Welker yet. Welker is a 4 year vet and Ginn is a rookie. Ginn already has the same number of return TDs Welker had his rookie year. Ginn has only 12 receptions, but that is 12 more than Welker had his whole rookie year. We needed a good starting center that we got with the 2nd round pick. Welker would do us no good if the QB is on his ass because the line didn't block for him. My problem isn't with the trade, but who they made it with. Couldn't our GM find an NFC team that would have accepted that trade?

[Tom]

Noel

You are generally a voice of reason, but I don't agree with you here. BL is right about keeping your playmakers. Welker was the best playmaker we had. And your comparison of rookie stats is misleading. Ginn was the 9th overall pick while Welker went undrafted. Of course Ginn is going to get more opportunities in his rookie year. And even with all that opportunity we have less production for the season than Welker had just last nite.

I agree that Satele has been a good acquisition, but OL are pretty easy to pick up in later rounds. For example, Hadnot was taken in the 6th round and Liwienski was drafted in the 7th round.

In my book this trade is reason #1,755 that Cam_Mueller should be fired.

[jb]

Why would people want to torment Welker with a losing season? Welker has Moss and Stallworth to give them the matchups they want.

[blue]

Unfortunately this will sound like a Cam/Mueller apologist diatribe but what needs to be kept in prespective is the mess both of them inhereted from the Wanny/Speilman debacle. While Welker is a play maker when given the opportunity and he has had many opportunities with Brady and the Pats it is unreasonable to believe he would have near the production with this team. The current Fins are weak in just to many positions that can only be fixed via the draft. Trading Welker for a 2nd round pick was probably the right thing to do. The only way the Fins are going to get back to winning is by drafting players they plan to keep. Right now there are four rookies starting on offense. Hadnot and Carey are still young with only three and four years experience respectively. At RB Brown is a three year vet and unforunately got injured. We all saw what he can do when he just puts his head down and runs instead of dancing around. On the defensive side they are getting long in the tooth. Only draft picks will solve the problems long term. While Welker produced as a fin his trade for a 2nd round pick was not the reason for this team's showing at 0-10. I would venture to say any GM who looked at the Fins roster would have made the trade. I know and understand the frustration as Welker may just end up leading the league in receptions and make the pro-bowl; however, I agree with the other bloggers that if he's on any other team besides the Pats he would not come close to the numbers he has now. At this point it is endless chatter. I say stockpile as many picks as you can and rebuild. Please Cam / Mueller...draft for need and do not waste time on the "best athelete."

[Tom]

Please Cam / Mueller...draft for need and do not waste time on the "best athelete" like you did last year.

blue please forgive my small edit to an otherwise excellent sentence.

[blue]

Tom...concur!

[GILBERT]

The Patriots have gotten us true football fans use to blow outs,but you have to admit 2 things 1. NOT ALL GAMES CAN BE BLOW OUTS AND 2.ONLY TRUE CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER TEAMS COME OUT WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN TO TAKE THE WINS.Enough said,Miami fans should quit crying about how bad the Dolphins are playing and enjoy what this team is doing in this era of the game,yes I'm a Pat Fan and I enjoyed what the Fins did in 72,cuz no team ever did it before them,now I'm enjoying what the Pats are doing and as a football fan I have to say this is awsome one hell of a feeling,even last nights game against the Egales, bottom line they WON,maybe Zack and Taylor should be thinking of going north of the border like a lot of thier ex-team mates(whom have won SB ring,Izzo,Huard,Cox,just to name a few,+ the 5 we have now) to get the ring,anyway Miami I lived on South Beach and took the bashing on my team,all in good stride, now I ask you to do the right things and sit back and enjoy what the Pats are doing,cuz it may never happen again for a longer time,PEACE

[ginrai]

The Patsos were losing yesterday to the Eagles and guess who bailed them out at the last minute? Wes Welker! Why did the Dolphins and the Raiders contributed to only making Bozoton-NewEngland tougher to beat in the past off season? Why? Stupid! Stupid!

[ginrai]

Why should we be rooting for an arch rival in the same division? I don't like NewEngland anymore than I like NewYork. Since they are both media sweethearts. I can't stand either equally. Both fanbases have major infamous braggarts and trollers. May you Patsos don't get that record even if you Bozotons win the superbowl this year. 19 is still a long road. There's 8 more games still. Those blowouts are only going to tire out your bozoton offense. Eventually some angry nfl team are going to make you bozotons pay for it. The Eagles almost did just that. There's your warning bozoton trollers!

[Alan W.]

The Pats will lose at least one game because of Belichick's temper tantrums. Did you see him yesterday coming unglued?? Sheesh, dude, chill a bit.

As for the Dolphins, with Beck at the helm, I say they'll win at least 3 games (Jets, Bills, and Ravens).

[Sia]

wow. I just read the first comment on this topic and the guy actually had the nerve to say that he hopes the Fins first win comes against the Pats. Dude is just flat out crazy. More evidence of "disillusioned Fins Fan" is the comment right before this one from Alan where he says..."I say they'll win at least 3 games."

Sorry bro. Not gonna happen. I mean, you do realize there are only 5 games left, right? Five. And the Fins are going to win "at least" 3 of them.

Way to forfeit your credibility. Fins will probably win one of those three games (likely against the J-E-T-S).

And I do think the Pats will lose one as well. Eagles just let the league know what the blueprint is to expose the secondary, so i'm guessing it'll be 15-1 for the Pats.

Pats and Cowboys in the show. Cowboys win 37-33. Count it.

[Sia]

wow. I just read the first comment on this topic and the guy actually had the nerve to say that he hopes the Fins first win comes against the Pats. Dude is just flat out crazy. More evidence of "disillusioned Fins Fan" is the comment right before this one from Alan where he says..."I say they'll win at least 3 games."

Sorry bro. Not gonna happen. I mean, you do realize there are only 5 games left, right? Five. And the Fins are going to win "at least" 3 of them.

Way to forfeit your credibility. Fins will probably win one of those three games (likely against the J-E-T-S).

And I do think the Pats will lose one as well. Eagles just let the league know what the blueprint is to expose the secondary, so i'm guessing it'll be 15-1 for the Pats.

Pats and Cowboys in the show. Cowboys win 37-33. Count it.

[Sia]

wow. I just read the first comment on this topic and the guy actually had the nerve to say that he hopes the Fins first win comes against the Pats. Dude is just flat out crazy. More evidence of "disillusioned Fins Fan" is the comment right before this one from Alan where he says..."I say they'll win at least 3 games."

Sorry bro. Not gonna happen. I mean, you do realize there are only 5 games left, right? Five. And the Fins are going to win "at least" 3 of them.

Way to forfeit your credibility. Fins will probably win one of those three games (likely against the J-E-T-S).

And I do think the Pats will lose one as well. Eagles just let the league know what the blueprint is to expose the secondary, so i'm guessing it'll be 15-1 for the Pats.

Pats and Cowboys in the show. Cowboys win 37-33. Count it.

[Sia]

wow. I just read the first comment on this topic and the guy actually had the nerve to say that he hopes the Fins first win comes against the Pats. Dude is just flat out crazy. More evidence of "disillusioned Fins Fan" is the comment right before this one from Alan where he says..."I say they'll win at least 3 games."

Sorry bro. Not gonna happen. I mean, you do realize there are only 5 games left, right? Five. And the Fins are going to win "at least" 3 of them.

Way to forfeit your credibility. Fins will probably win one of those three games (likely against the J-E-T-S).

And I do think the Pats will lose one as well. Eagles just let the league know what the blueprint is to expose the secondary, so i'm guessing it'll be 15-1 for the Pats.

Pats and Cowboys in the show. Cowboys win 37-33. Count it.

[Casey]

I think everyone is reading into yesterday's "win that didn't cover" a little too much. I don't necessarily buy this whole "blueprint for exposing the Pats" that the brilliant Andy Reid apparently came up with (when he wasn't busy not paying attention to his 'family in crisis,' to quote Judge O'Neill). The Pats have one close game and everyone reaches conclusions as to why the Pats will lose. I'm sick of trendy, clever rationales that everyone is parroting off of Around the Horn and SportsCenter. So the Pats didn't bury a team and everyone is ready to write them off as sucking, huh?

Let's look at who the Pats play to finish up the season. They play the Ravens, who are looking great on a 5-game losing streak , home against the Steelers, Jets, and Dolphins and then on the road to finish up with the Giants. Neither the Ravens, Jets, nor Dolphins are going to be able to knock off the Pats. I mean, just face it, Dolphins fans. You suck. Like real bad. Not 0-16 bad, but around 1-15 bad. Not to mention the game is in New England during winter. You're not going to have a folk hero like Dan Marino to off the Pats like you did in 1985 with the Bears.

The only realistic chances of N.E. losing will be to the Steelers or Giants, and after this past week, it looks like Eli and the boys aren't going to be able to contend as long as Eli throws like Ken Dorsey in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. I think the Steelers have the only realistic shot because they're the only team that can stop N.E. on defense and move the ball on offense. Don't doubt that Bill Belichik has already analyzed that Philly tape down to every snap and I don't doubt the errors made on Sunday will be fixed. It's the Pats for Christ's sake; love them or hate them, they know how to win under pressure and this goal of 19-0 is pressure.

Dolphins aren't going to go 0-16. They're not that bad. They may pick up a win, possibly 2, but no more than that. You have the Jets, Bills, Ravens, and Bengals coming up. 2 of those games are definitely winable.
So I guess my final prediction is yes, the Pats will go 19-0 unfortunately. They're pretty damn good. They have good coaching, good leadership, good athletes, and amazing team chemistry. I hate the Pats but I have to give them their due. The Phins will finish 1-15, maybe 2-14 and have the #1 pick in the NFL Draft and pass on a franchise QB to draft a punt returner to supplement their deadly kick-off specialist in Ted Ginn. Let's go Special Teams!

PS - This is for Trenton. Sticking it to the Browns for bad drafting? Back in 1970 nonetheless?! Why didn't you go more current and say something about Tim Couch, or Courtney Brown, or Gerrard Warren, or William Green? Making fun of the Browns is like making fun of the retarded kid in school ... um, yes .. we all know he's retarded -- that's why he acts like that. And yes, that is why the Browns as a franchise has pretty much sucked for all but about 8 years since 1965. We got it.

[ginrai]

That's four and where's the other four? There's a total of eight left. Didn't David beat Goliath? As tough as the Patriots are this year they can still lose ,and even to a lowly team or any team at that.

[Flipper72]

Th Eagles were at the 29 yard line of the Pats, already in field goal range to at least tie and send it into overtime.

There was no need for AJ Feely to throw that post pattern in the end zone. That WR was covered like a blanket.

He should have thought back to that Monday night Football game when he was a Dolphin and we beat the Pats in Miami 28-27 on the last play of the game. That was sweet!

Almost pulled it off AJ...!! If you would have, we would have forgiven you for all the lame ass game time decisions you made when you were our starting QB.

[erns]

Dolphins will not go 0-16, they are better than that, not much better, but better. Although they played two tough opponents in their home turf, in adverse weather conditions, and with a rookie QB starting for the first time, Miami had the opprutnity to take a game, especially tonight against Pitt.
I don't believe New England will go 19-0. They are a tough team to beat, but they still have to face teams that might give them a hard time, like the Steelers. Also, in the playoffs they might end up facing the Colts, and eventhough this game will be in cold Foxboro, where Manning doesn't play well, the Colts can still pull out the win.
As far as Welker is concerned, Miami was going to loose Welker to the Pats, whether Miami wanted it or not. The Pats were willing to offer Welker a $38 million offer that Miami wasn't going to be able to match. Not if they need the cap to rebuild this team, which obviously needs it. I was pretty disappointed to see Welker go also, but in the situation Miami is now they just couldn't afford paying him so much money when they need the money to fill other key spots. In a way I wish Miami wouldn't have traded welker so New England would've been forced to pay big bucks and hurt their salary cap in the future. With the trade Miami all it got was an additional pick (7th by the way, not 5th) and New England kept some of their money. They still signed Welker to a $18 million/5-year contract.

[mike1]

Though I think Miami has a chance of winning one game, I don't think they will. Their bad luck with injuries is amazing; and their coaching decisions pathetic. The Jets are the easiest team on the schedule, but often beat Miami. The game is always an away game regardless where it's played.

NE will not lose a game. As much as I can't stand their jerk "running-up-the-score" coach, he's a genious and he's already figured out to solve what the Eagles exposed. NE rarely makes mistakes (Brady doesnt throw INT's, Welker doesn't drop ..and they have firepower like I've never seen. Out of all the wanna-bee 72 record breakers in the past, NE is bona-fide superior..best all around team I've ever seen or read about in the history books. The Steelers beat them? I doubt it given the way they barely beat the Phins.

Colts had their chance; Cowboys had theirs for 3 quarters. NE is just a superior team. Colts may have Harrison back; and if Manning is mistake-free..maybe they win the AFC champ game...assuming someone doesn't upset the Colts in an earlier round. NE will pound the NFC team in the Super Bowl, 45-10.

[the shadow knows]

mike1,

just saw that roosevelt colvin is out for the year-could be the first chink in the armor-laden patriots.

amazing how all of those who were not concerned about wes welker leaving sem to be silenced by his play; the guy was first rate for maimi last year and is having a pro-bowl year for his new employers.

here the jury is still out on the chargers; although some of their key defensive linemen have been hurt, they did not get adequate play from the reserves and as aresult are floundering. hester of chicago gave them a little breathing room, as did the raiders in KC; if they defeat the chieves this sunday they will pretty much lock up the division and the home game that goes along with it. they will play a mediocre wild-card team, which should help them get ready for the colts, who were very unlucky in the game here and will not have peyton manning throw half the interceptions that he did here in the rain.

[mike1]

shadow, though I like the Chargers better than the Colts, I have to root for the Colts as they are the only NFL team with a remote chance of knocking off NE, although I don't think they will.

[mike1]

Shadow, did you see my entry in the UM-BC blog and the other one in response to your comment about England blowing Euro 2008?