[vhawk01]

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People don't remember the '72 Dolphins because they won the SB, they remember because they were undefeated.

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well, if you hurt your chances of winning the SB and end up falling short in the playoffs, you won't be remembered alongside the 72 dolphins, even with a 16-0 reg season

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They'll be more remembered than a 14-2 season and SB win.

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Has anyone paid attention to the Pats over the past several years? Have they ever said or done anything to imply that they are concerned with anything other than winning the Super Bowl? If they go 15-0 and have home field and everything they could possibly have locked up, I think it's almost guaranteed that Mr. Brady will be out after the 1st quarter of that last game. They will do everything they can to protect their starters for the playoffs.

Sure, deep down they may all want it, but everything about this team over the past several years points to them subjugating meaningless stats to the ultimate goal of winning a championship.

And yes, that's what an undefeated regular season is, meaningless. It's fun for the fans and for ESPN, but not the point of an NFL season. The fact that people even suggest that they would or should knowingly decrease their chances of winning a SB just to go 16-0 is not only antithetical to the Patriots philosophy, but the point of sports altogether, and a byproduct of the overhyped entertainment-like circus professional sports has become.

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LOL at your arbitrary definition of what is meaningless in sports. Like there is some super ridiculous mega value to winning the SB. Many things in football are "meaningful" and winning a whole bunch of Super Bowls is certainly high up on the list. But sacrificing 4-5% of your chance to win the SB for a 70-80% chance to go undefeated should be an absolute no-brainer. Only ridiculous black/white, all-or-nothing thinking could distract you from this.