Pursuit of Perfection – Coincidence or something more?

As all football fans now know, the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints are both 13-0. This is the 1st time that the league has ever had two teams take their undefeated streaks this far into the season. It begs the questions 1. Can they both finish unbeaten? 2. Why is this happening now after never happening before. In this segment we are going to look at the Colts and Saints roads to a perfect regular season and take a look at the current state of the NFL to see if there is something more behind their incredible records.

Let’s start with the Saints, on their schedule they have… Dallas at home in Week 15, Tampa Bay at home in Week 16 and finish up with a road game against the Carolina Panthers. The toughest of the 3 is obviously Dallas but they have proven over the last recent weeks that they aren’t as good as advertised.

Tons of talent, tons of ability to definitely go into New Orleans and steal a win but it’s not going to happen. Next up is Tampa, not a chance. You never say never because I remember in 1999 when the Denver Broncos were 13-0 and went into New York to play the Giants who were not a playoff team that year and they lost so anything is possible but logic tells us that the Saints should be 15-0. That brings us to the final game. The Panthers have, of all the teams remaining maybe the best chance to knock New Orleans off their unbeaten perch. They will be at home and they have two bruising RB’s that can control the flow of the game. Add on the familiarity factor and it could be the making for an upset. If the Saints to get to 15-0 I honestly think the wave of emotion and desire to make history will be overwhelming and I would look for the Saints to blow the Panthers out. At this point in time I would say the chances for the Saints to go Undefeated are at 85% or better. They score on Defense, put up loads of points on Offense and have no real holes.

Now let’s look at the Colts. Indianapolis has an easier road to undefeated than the Saints do and they have been here before. The Colts, in my humble opinion, have been a bit lucky this year. They’ve faced teams that should have handed them their first loss but simply mad either bad coaching decisions or had bad execution. Not to take anything away from the Colts, they deserve the credit but they haven’t impressed me as much as the Saints have. Last week against Denver for example, they jumped out early and dominated the 1st Quarter but then were pretty much beaten for the rest of the game. Dropped passes, flags against the Broncos, missed FG’s and other errors were too much to overcome.

Manning threw 3 interceptions and for awhile they looked average. The Colts remaining games are at Jacksonville in a short week, playing on Thursday Night football. Then they are home against the Jets and finally finish up at Buffalo. All three are very winnable games. The only game on their slate that makes me even a little hesitant is the short week on the road. That is always a tough game for visiting teams to handle. Look at the Steelers against the Browns in Week 14, short week on the road can really mess up your weekly routine. The Jets don’t have enough offense to hang with Indy and the Bills don’t either. The Colts at this point have a 90% chance or better to go unbeaten.

This begs the question – Can we have two unbeaten teams in the SuperBowl? The answer is quite simply…yes! How and why is this happening? Well, to be quite honest it was the rule changes. What do both of these teams have in common? In fact, what do both have in common with the 2007 unbeaten Patriots? Great QB’s who can pick you apart! Since the NFL changed the rules for contact against Wide Receivers it makes it that much more difficult to guard them. Teams that have good WR’s like the Colts and Saints do and exceptional QB’s like the Colts and Saints do can now put up incredible passing numbers week in and week out and for the most part they do.

The NFL used to be about physicality, pounding the football in cold and sloppy conditions. Teams would rely heavily on bruising RB’s and a smash mouth style Defense to win games. Now, it’s the opposite in many ways. More games are being played in perfect conditions (Dome’s) which the Colts and Saints both have. More teams pass more than they run, which the Colts and Saints both do. And, more teams are being built defensively on speed. The Colts for example have Freeney and Mathis, both excellent edge rushers that make it hard to drop back and pass over and over…which you will need to do if you are playing from behind against Indy. The Saints have created a ball hawking style defense that is built to get the ball back into the hands of the quick strike offense.

When it’s all said and done, this is a copy cat league so look for more teams to try and build their franchise just like the other successful ones of recent memory. A league that is trending more to the Air Show where the NFL has put a premium on scoring points and filling seats and less on the history of the stats and accomplishments of the men of yesteryear.

If the 1972 Dolphins have questions as to why their perfect record has all the sudden been matched 3 times in 3 years…you know who to call, the NFL rules committee!