Only one team in the entire NFC ends up with a positive scoring differential against Quality Teams: the Packers, who are 3-1 vs. Quality Opponents with a +5.5 PPG point differential. Green Bay beat the Giants, Chargers and Redskins, all within the first six weeks of the season. The only game in Green Bay's final 10 against a Quality Team was the highly publicized showdown with the Cowboys, a contest the Packers lost, 37-27.

 

The Cowboys beat four Quality Teams, most in the NFC. Two of their victories came against the Giants, with the others over the Redskins and Packers. The losses came to New England in October and Washington today. The Cowboys, of course, had little to play for in that Redskins game today, with the senior circuit's No. 1 seed already secured.

 

The Cardinals, of all teams, who closed out the season with a dominating 48-19 win over down-and-out St. Louis, join the mighty Packers and Cowboys as the only NFC teams to beat three or more Quality Opponents this year.

 

One of the big undercurrents in the NFL this year was the narrowing gap between the dominance of the AFC and the subservience of the NFC. However, the AFC still looks fairly dominant when looked at through the prism of our Quality Standings.

 

Four AFC teams end up on the plus side of the scoring ledger vs. Quality Teams (compared with only one team in the NFC): New England, Pittsburgh, Indy and Jacksonville.

 

The Patriots, Colts and Jaguars all boast four or more wins over Quality Teams, compared with only the Packers in the NFC.

 

San Diego purports to be a team that re-established late in 2007 the dominance it showed in 2006. The Quality Standings pull a Lee Corso and declare "Not so fast!" The Chargers end the season just 2-3 vs. Quality Opponents, and never 6.0 PPG in the scoring department in those five contest.

 

The Patriots, of course, were dominant by every imaginable measure this year, including by our Quality Standings. Seven of their 16 wins came against Quality Teams, tops in the NFL. The better than 2-to-1 scoring margin against Quality Teams (38.3 to 19.0) is where New England truly separates itself.

 

We don't know if it's the best ever (our Quality Standings only go back so far). But we do know this: we have tracked the records vs. Quality Opponents of every single Super Bowl champion and none comes close to that kind of scoring differential.

 

We also know this: if the Patriots do win the Super Bowl, their 10-0 record vs. Quality Teams would match the record set by the 2003 Patriots.