"Hey, 1972 Dolphins: as you clink champagne glasses tonight, remember that the 2011 Colts would have beaten you by 48."
I asked him the following in return. Let's see if he responds.
Because to me, that is the key to the argument. If you transported the 1972 Dolphins to 2011, he may be right because football players were smaller and slower in 1972. Looking at a team roster on pro-football-reference.com, the heaviest player on the team was Jim Dunaway at 277 pounds. The four offensive lineman who started all 14 regular-season games -- Bob Kuechenberg, Jim Langer, Larry Little and Norm Evans -- went 253, 250, 265 and 250.
"Do you mean the 1972 Dolphins as they were then, or if those players were as they would be now?"
Nick Buoniconti, the Dolphins' best linebacker, was 5-feet, 11-inches and 220 pounds. I couldn't find Paul Warfield's 40-yard dash time, but I'm guessing it was slower than receivers today, and he was the speedster of the offense.
So there's no doubt, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, as the Miami Dolphins in 1972, would have been run out of any NFL stadium.
But what if you took the kind of players they were with 2011 physical attributes? I won't provide a 1972 match to a current player, but this is the kind of team you'd have:
* one with a top quarterback, and a more-than-capable backup. (The 1972 backup, Earl Morrall, started more games than starter Bob Griese that year).
* three excellent running backs.
* one of the top deep threats in the league.
* nine Pro Bowlers and three first-team All-Pros (Wikipedia was my source for that, grains of salt being tossed.)
* a coach who ended up fairly decent.
* an offense that scored the most points and a defense that allowed the fewest.
Maybe they don't run the table (the competition's a little better these days, too), but there's no way the "Suck for Luck" Indianapolis Colts are beating them by 48 points.
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