The legendary 1972 Miami Dolphins may soon be sleeping with the fishes. Or is it fish?

Sorta.

The Patriots still have to run the table in the playoffs but this article will assume they will.  

Congratulations to the New England Patriots.

Some people may be wondering why I'm congratulating a team that is apprarently despised. Who cares about that? Sports is not about being loved. It's about winning.

Is it better to be feared or loved in sports? 

We know what Niccolo Machiavelli would have answered.

The Pats once again proved they are up to the task and challenge of beating the best the NFL has to offer. The New York Giants played very well but still fell to New England 38-35. Giants QB Eli Manning threw for four TD's - two more than Patriots QB Tom Brady. It wasn't, as you can tell, enough.

As usual, the Pats remained calm and collected. Even 12 points down it was fairly obvious the Pats were going to get the job done and that they did. 

For his part, Brady launched his record breaking 50th touchdown pass to Randy Moss that was good for 65-yards and a 31-28 lead. The previous record was held by Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts who hurled 49 TD's in 2004. What made that play all the more enjoyable was the fact that Brady made a similar deep pass that was subsequently dropped by the normally sure handed Moss.

What does Brady do? He cracks another bomb to Moss and this time the best receiver in football made no mistake. 

So now the real work begins. As far as we can tell, in the AFC only the Indianapolis Colts have the talent and pedigree to stop the Pats. However, they'll have to do it in the (possibly) wretched winter conditions of Boston. The only other teams that may possess some hope include: the San Diego Chargers who are immensely talented but an unproven commodity; though they have furiously turned their season around. The Pittsburgh Steelers know how to win but they may come up short this time around. Finally, the Jacksonville Jaguars are a physically bruising team and opponents should be wary of them. But do they realistically have enough to match New England's offense? Probably not.

In the NFC, it's even tougher. The Dallas Cowboys are good but how good has been tough to gauge. Same with the Green Bay Packers who happen to be the youngest team in football- and these are the best two teams the NFC have produced all season. That leaves the other "favorite" in the Seattle Seahawks who are capable of playing soft like seaweed on any given day.

On paper, print and blog, the Pats look like a team of destiny.