I have had this moment in mind for a long time. That is, sitting down to record my thoughts the Monday following Super Bowl XLII. I had fully expected to spend that time discussing the greatness of the New England Patriots and how unbelievable a 19-0 season is in today's NFL. Even now, watching all the sports shows and reflecting on yesterday's game I am still in a little disbelief. New York 17, New England 14. I have a million different thoughts so I'm not exactly sure where this column will go. The New York Giants were grossly undervalued going into the game, in terms of being a double-digit underdog. I do not think their victory qualifies as earth-shattering as far as upsets go (surprising, even highly surprising yes, but doesn't everyone remember these guys played head-to-head in week 17 and it was a tight 38-35 game?). Frankly, Cinderella will never make it to the Super Bowl, it's too difficult. But to call the Patriots prohibitive favorites, at 18-0 with numerous offensive records and one of the best-ever big-game quarterbacks in Tom Brady, was a relatively easy call for me (I'd say it was about 70-30 in favor of NE in terms of predictions. Hilarious to hear the Giants say no one thought they could do it. A ton of people thought you could do it gang!) The Giants D is great, particularly their pass rush. They have been road warriors all year and have played great in the playoffs, beating the two top seeds in the NFC, the Cowboys and Packers. But if you would've told me 24 hours ago that Eli Manning would outduel Tom Brady, I would've laughed hysterically. But he did. He made all the plays, including the amazing escape and throw to David Tyree on the final drive. That play/throw and that catch should indeed go down as one of, if not the greatest, play in Super Bowl history. But remember this: it never would've happened, nor would the Giants have pulled the upset, had Asante "I Want the Big Dough Because I'm a Superstar" Samuel not let an interception bounce of his hands just a few plays earlier. When he dropped the potential game-ender, I said to the party I was watching with that if the Giants pulled it out, Samuel would have freaking nightmares. I'm not a Patriots fan, per se, but I for one was rooting heavily for them. I love Tom Brady, I'm an AFC guy, and I HATE the 1972 Miami Dolphins, among the most overrated teams in the history of sports. It's fine to be proud of one's accomplishments. But, like the classy Henry Aaron, record holders should cheer for their records to be eclipsed and celebrate the new record holders. Class-less Mercury Morris needs to go away forever, but we will all have to continue to deal with him because his Dolphins are still the only "perfect" team. I can't even imagine what he's saying today, that prick. I congratulate the Pats on equaling, and surpassing, the Dolphins' 17-0 record. Let me say that again, the 2007 Patriots surpassed the 1972 Dolphins' record of 17-0. Tom Brady has more rings than Morris (3 to 2) or anyone else on the '72 Dolphins. Don Shula is a legend but dudes like Morris were fringe pros who time will eventually forget. Tom Brady, today, is one of the best to ever play his position and he's got a lot of years left before he goes to Canton. The Pats will be back. The fact that anyone has to mention the f------ Dolphins takes away from several things: we saw perhaps the greatest Super Bowl ever and the New York Giants won the Championship. Eli Manning was amazing. Earlier this year (and this shows the ridiculously fickle nature of sports) many pundits (Mark Schlereth comes to mind) said that Eli would never be a front line QB, the type that would lead a team to a championship. Now he's the toast of the town. Instead of banishing a guy to the netherworld of stardom or putting a guy on a pedestal, how about we just give the guy credit for his singular achievement and let's see how his career plays out. Good for Eli. It's a no-win situation to be Peyton Manning's little bro and/or play in New York. Eli was money. The D was money. The Giants could've folded up when the Pats went up late in the 4th quarter. What an unbelievable game. Now, where do the 18-1 Patriots go down in history? To me, they are still one of the best teams of all-time. An undefeated regular season is amazing. And while they didn't close the deal this is still a championship team (meaning both that they were conference champs and that most of the current roster owns rings). The Patriots will almost certainly be among the favorites next year. Certainly they'll need to retool and get younger on D. They have a great front office and they own the 7th overall pick. Somehow I think they'll survive. Certainly losing the Super Bowl, and especially when a win would've sealed a perfect season, is going to sting and take along time to recover from. I don't think 18-0 will ever happen again, but then I never thought it would happen in the first place. I'm happy for the Giants and it sucks the Patriots couldn't make history. But my overarching feeling is of nausea. I HAVE AN UNNATURAL HATRED OF THE 1972 DOLPHINS AND ESPECIALLY MERCURY MORRIS. I COULD NOT POSSIBLY HOLD ANY MORE DISDAIN IN MY SOUL FOR THOSE DECREPIT AND PRETENTIOUS MEN. Here are, in my opinion, teams better than the '72 Dolphins, off the top of my head: any of the 70's Steelers championship teams, any of the 80's 49ers championship teams, any of the 90's Cowboys championship teams, any of the Patriots 00's championship teams (or this year's team), any of the four Bills teams that lost Super Bowls, the 2000 Ravens (best defense ever in my opinion), 2002 Bucs (second-best D ever), 1985 Bears, Steve Young 49ers of '95, Raiders of 2002 (one of the best SB losing squads, they'd hang 50+ easy), Peyton's Colts last year, any of those Redskins championship teams, or any Raiders championship team. There are a number of Super Bowl winners that the Dolphins would beat. I think if you determined the 50 best teams of all-time, the Dolphins would be in the 20's or 30's, possibly teens, but certainly not top-10. They played a shorter season against lame competition. God willing, someone will eventually go undefeated for an entire season. Or they'll all die (not far away for some). As you can tell, I'm not at all embittered against them. It's Mercury "Cocaine" Morris. He thinks he's God Incarnate. He rushed for 4,000 yards and 31 td's in his career. He made a few Pro Bowls. He's also a drug-dealing felon. If Shula or Bob Griese want to talk about greatness, I will listen-both are NFL Hall of Famers. Morris was a fringe player who needs to shut up. It would be like Will Perdue clogging the airwaves talking about how great the Bulls championship teams were. Props to Eli and the Giants.
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