OPINION

By Tim Dahlberg

updated 7:59 p.m. ET Dec. 4, 2007

Conspiracy theorists can start lining up behind the grassy knoll. Those waiting to cash their tickets on the New England Patriots finishing the regular season undefeated can do the same in the Las Vegas sports books.

One group thinks it has good reason to smell something fishy. The other knows it has good reason to start celebrating early.

It won’t be official until sometime late in the evening of Dec. 29, but start spreading the news. After an escape Monday night that would have made Houdini proud, the New England Patriots will go 16-0 and become the first team to finish a season undefeated since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

I’m not exactly stepping out on a ledge predicting that. After all, the Patriots are 12-0 and favored by nearly two touchdowns against Pittsburgh this weekend in one of their two toughest remaining games.

There’s another reason for the Patriots to win them all, one that will loom larger with each passing Sunday. That one has conspiracy types beginning to look under every rock to see if the fix could possibly be in.

Some members of the Baltimore Ravens think so. Hard to fault them after a bizarre series of plays turned what looked like certain victory into defeat and left them fuming at both the calls and the attitude of the referees.

“It’s hard to go out there and play the Patriots and the refs at the same time,” cornerback Chris McAlister said. “They put the crown on top of them. They want them to win. They won.”

Laughable as that might seem in a league which prides itself on an image that everything is always on the up-and-up, it may not be too far-fetched. Almost to a man, the Ravens seemed to think it was not just fate lined up against them in Monday night’s 27-24 loss.

Just the week before the Patriots seemed to get another break when a questionable touchdown pass with eight seconds left in the first half against the Eagles wasn’t even reviewed in the booth, a decision that left Philadelphia fans steaming.

Patriots pursue perfection Brady voted near-unanimous NFL MVP Opinion: Brady will end QB debate with title Special feature: Brady among all-time greats Opinion: Pats too good, focused to be denied Opinion: It's easier to upset Pats than Colts Celizic: Giants proved Patriots are beatable Compare 2007 Patriots with 1972 Dolphins Feature: Sports' best-ever regular seasons NBC Sports: Timeline of undefeated season iPredict: New England won’t win Super Bowl Opinion: 19-0 would make Pats best team ever Votes: Pats go 19-0?  |  Rooting for them? Gridiron Greats: Best NFL teams of all-time

Silly? Maybe, but the NFL has only itself to blame for the fact the perception even exists.

That’s because there is money to be made if the Patriots go undefeated, big money, and not just the kind handed over the counter at the sports books.

No, the league isn’t raiding its rainy day fund to take the Patriots to run the table, a bet that is increasingly popular in Vegas these days. But a lot is riding on whether the Patriots are unbeaten going into the Dec. 29 game against the New York Giants.

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