Doesn't matter if it's the Cowboys, Packers or Seahawks. Doesn't matter if it's the Eagles, Saints, Lions, Bucs or Panthers. Doesn't matter if they all come and put together an all-star team. A fifth straight AFC Super Bowl win is as certain as rising gas prices.
Through the first 8 weeks of the season, AFC teams have won 18 of 31 inter-conference battles. The AFC has outscored the NFC, 716-538, in those 31 games.
The 8-0 Patriots, who will face the 7-0 Colts on Sunday in Indy, are averaging an unbelievable 41.3 points per game. Their average margin of victory has been 25.5 points. They've faced two NFC teams - the 6-1 Cowboys and 4-3 Redskins - and clubbed them by a combined score of 100-34.
The Colts have been almost as dominant. They've scored fewer than 29 points just once this season (22 in Week 2 vs. Tennessee) and have won five of their seven games by 18 or more points. They've faced three NFC teams - the 3-4 Saints, 4-4 Bucs and 4-3 Panthers. Combined score: 105-31.
Around the league
-- Before
Bill Belichick, there was
Buddy Ryan. Cowboys coach
Wade Phillips was Ryan's defensive coordinator in 1987 when the former Eagles coach had quarterback
Randall Cunningham fake a kneel-down and throw a pass to
Mike Quick with 15 seconds left in an already-won game against Dallas. The play drew a pass-interference penalty, after which fullback
Keith Byars ran the ball in from 1 yard out with no time left to give the Eagles a 17-point victory. Phillips admitted this week that it was a bush play.
"The game is over,'' he said. "Mike could've gotten hurt. Or Randall. Or someone on the play. I've just never coached that way. No offense to Buddy, but I was embarrassed.''
Phillips said he expressed his feelings about the play to Ryan, but the former Eagles coach "didn't care what I thought.''
