Quote of the Week I

Jason Taylor celebrates the Dolphins' 22-16 overtime win over the Ravens. AP

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"I love you guys! [Bleep], I'm gonna start crying.''

-- Miami defensive end Jason Taylor, to his teammates in the Miami locker room after the Dolphins won their first game of the year.

Quote of the Week II

"It looked like something I saw on the discovery channel. Like something about the North Pole."

-- Buffalo running back Marshawn Lynch, on the weather conditions at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Sunday.

Stat of the Week

Now that New England has joined Miami's 1972 team as the only clubs to post a 14-0 record in an NFL regular season, let's compare the teams.

First -- and do not mistake this for Dolphin-bashing, because it's the clear and simple truth -- Miami's schedule was minor-league compared to the Pats' through 14 weeks. In 1972, Miami did not play a team that finished the season with more than eight wins. The 8-6 Giants and Chiefs were the toughest tests. There were six teams with 10 wins or more other than Miami in 1972, and through quirks of the schedule, Miami faced none of them. Incredibly, the '72 Dolphins faced none of the other seven NFL playoff teams during the regular season, then won all three playoff games narrowly -- by six, four and seven points.

New England, meanwhile, is 4-0 against division leaders and has won those games by an average of 15 points.

But Miami was not a marginally good team that year -- the Dolphins were superb. No team since the '72 Dolphins has led the NFL in points, points allowed, total yards and total yards allowed. That's an amazing and dominant feat. "The most special collection of players ever assembled,'' Don Shula said at halftime of yesterday's Ravens-Dolphins game. New England might have something to say about that in early February.

New England is markedly different on offense than Miami was. The Dolphins had a 69-to-31 run-to-pass ratio, with Larry Csonka (1,117) and Mercury Morris (1,000) rushing for 1,000 yards and Earl Morrall and Bob Griese (who broke his ankle in midseason, causing him to miss nine starts) splitting time at quarterback and accounting for just 2,235 passing yards. New England's run-pass ratio is 42-to-58 this year.

MVP Watch

1. Tom Brady, QB, New England. When Peyton Manning led the Colts to a 12-4 record in 2004 and had a record-setting 49 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions, he received 47 of 48 votes for the Most Valuable Player award from a panel of the nation's football media. Brady has led the Pats to 14-0 with 45 touchdowns and six picks.

2. Tony Romo, QB, Dallas. Yikes. I haven't seen him play a crummy game since Seattle in last year's playoffs. A good old-fashioned clunker (13-of-36) might not be the worst news, though. His throwing thumb is sprained, and it could plague him Saturday at Carolina in a game the Cowboys suddenly must win to ensure they don't go to Green Bay on Jan. 20.

3. Brett Favre, QB, Green Bay. The Packers are 12-2 and have clinched a bye with two weeks left. Favre set the record for career passing yards at St. Louis on Sunday with a 227-yard passing day, giving him 61,405 yards, weeks after he set career records for quarterback wins and touchdown passes.

4. Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis. You're probably trying to remember who had that other MVP vote in 2004, aren't you? Michael Vick.

5. Fred Taylor, RB, Jacksonville. Taylor has four straight 100-yard rushing games and has become a big-time leader for a 10-4 Jags team that is suddenly an offensive juggernaut.

Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only Me

On Dec. 16, 1972, at 1 p.m. in Miami, the Dolphins beat Baltimore to run their record to 14-0.

On Dec. 16, 2007, at 1 p.m. in Miami, the Dolphins beat Baltimore to run their record to 1-13.

Enjoyable/Aggravating Travel Note of the Week

Last Wednesday, 3:50 p.m., Terminal D, bar, LaGuardia Airport.

Seven people at the bar, including me. Fellow next to me, 40ish, going to International Falls, Minn., then crossing over the border into Canada, going home after a business trip. I'm on the way to Memphis, on assignment for HBO after taping Inside the NFL. We're making small talk about the CNN political correspondent wearing a furry hat that makes it look like he's got a fox warming his head in the cold of mid-New Hampshire. We were both there for a quick beer before our flights, and he mentions two things: It's going to be around zero Fahrenheit when he gets home late that night, which is pretty normal for this time of year. And he motions to the five other people around the bar and the bartender.

"Look,'' he says. "Every one of them is on the phone.''

He's right, almost. The bartender is speaking in Spanish to someone and has been for about 10 minutes, serving drinks with one hand. A woman and a man in mid-bar are texting or checking e-mail on their mobile devices. Four other patrons are talking on their phones to people in Montclair or Montrose; who knows?

"You used to go to a bar and actually have conversations,'' he says wistfully.

He'd been on a trip for a week. I asked him what he was going to do when he got home. "I'm taking the kids snow-skiing after school Friday,'' he said. "We're going back over the border into Minnesota. Some good slopes there. I'll ski, they'll ski or snowboard. It's great.''

No moral to the story. Just a nice chat with a fellow on his way to International Falls, Minn.

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