Mercury Morris Comments on Panthers' Possibility of Going Undefeated

Mercury Morris has always carried the flag to symbolize the 1972 Miami Dolphins' perfect season and is always the one who has something to say when a team is on the verge of going undefeated.

The 12-0 Carolina Panthers take on a struggling Atlanta Falcons team on Sunday, and while Morris respects what the Panthers have done this year, he doesn't think they are as good as his '72 Dolphins.

"I have to take my hat off to them. It's not easy to get 12 wins," Morris told TMZ Sports. "The Broncos did it, Colts and the Saints a few years back. Let [the Panthers] get past that jinx of the 13th game and then come ask me again if I think they will have a perfect season."

Stats-wise, there's no comparison between the '72 Dolphins and this year's Panthers. Miami won the Super Bowl that year with the highest-scoring offense in the NFL and the best-scoring defense.

Carolina, meanwhile, has had to rely on quarterback Cam Newton some weeks and other times its defense. The Panthers are third in the league in scoring at 31.1 points per game and have only allowed 20 points per week.

It's also a different era, and the talent levels are different. Newton has a group of receivers that has a difficult time catching the ball, whereas Miami had two 1,000-yard rushers in Larry Csonka and Morris. The Panthers have Jonathan Stewart closing in on 1,000 yards with the next leading rusher being Newton at just under 500 yards.     

"Do you know the second-biggest canyon in the U.S.? No, because everyone only knows about the Grand Canyon," Morris said. "No one cares about the second to do anything." 

Morris will always be the mouthpiece for the '72 Dolphins until a team knocks them off. The Panthers are the last remaining hope this year, and they have a good opportunity to finish the regular season 16-0 with two games against the Falcons and meetings against the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers being all that's left.