New England quarterback Tom Brady talks with head coach Bill Belichick during Sunday's game against the Philadelphia. Even Belichick is having a hard time ignoring the attention on his team as they get ever closer to the NFL's first unbeaten season in 35 years.

Even Bill Belichick is having a hard time ignoring the attention on his New England Patriots as they get ever closer to the NFL's first perfect season in 35 years.

"I don't care what everybody else thinks," he snarled this week after first suggesting that no one cared except the reporters asking the questions.

"I can tell you what this team thinks. Right now we're thinking about getting ready for Baltimore. That's how we approach the game. I can't tell you what anybody else thinks. I don't care what everybody else thinks. It doesn't make any difference."

It sure does, though, to the Miami Dolphins — for a couple of reasons.

New England is 11-0 on the way to 16-0 — or 19-0, the record if it wins out through the Super Bowl. That would make the Patriots the NFL's first unbeaten team since the 1972 Dolphins went 14-0 in the regular season and 17-0 overall, beating Washington in the Super Bowl.

Now, that same Miami franchise is at the opposite end in this season of extremes, only the third time in the NFL's 88 seasons that there have been 11-0 and 0-11 teams at the same time.

In 1984, Miami was 11-0 on the way to a 14-2 record and Super Bowl trip with Dan Marino setting passing records that wouldn't be broken for two decades. The 0-11 team was Buffalo, which finished 2-14, setting the stage for a housecleaning that brought in an administration led by Bill Polian and Marv Levy. All they would do is get the Bills to four straight Super Bowls from 1990-93.

The only other time it happened was 1942, when Chicago was 11-0 and Detroit 0-11.

Most of the focus this time is on the Patriots.

They were caught in the first game of the season illegally taping the New York Jets' defensive signals. Belichick was fined $500,000, the team was fined $250,000, and the Patriots lost their first-round draft choice in 2008.

So dominant have they been since that oddsmakers are having trouble setting lines to entice wagers against them. They are winning by scores like 52-7 and 56-10, and their average victory margin is 23 points a game. Belichick has left his regulars in the game well into the fourth quarter against outmanned opponents — proof that he doesn't need contraband information.

By comparison, while the Patriots win big, the Dolphins lose small — six defeats by three points. They slogged through the Pittsburgh mud for 59 minutes and 43 seconds Monday night before the Steelers managed a field goal to win 3-0.

The Patriots already are a mini-dynasty, winning Super Bowls after the 2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons and reaching the AFC championship game last year before blowing a 21-3 lead and losing 38-34 to Indianapolis.

The Patriots then filled their biggest hole with three standout wide receivers, including Randy Moss, who was obtained for a fourth-round pick from Oakland, where he was hurt and unhappy. His 16 touchdown catches are just six short of Jerry Rice's single-season record of 22.

Then there is Wes Welker, obtained from Miami. He is second in the league with 81 catches, including 13 last Sunday night in a 31-28 win over Philadelphia that was only the second game this season the Patriots won by less than 17 points.

Their presence has turned quarterback Tom Brady into a record-breaker as well as a winner. The MVP in two of the three Super Bowl victories, Brady already has 39 TD passes this season, just 10 short of Peyton Manning's record, and the win over Philadelphia was the first game this season in which he had fewer than three.

Letting Welker go is one of many questionable decisions by the Dolphins, who also have been hurt badly by injury.

When it was clear they were going nowhere this season, the Dolphins dealt their top receiver, Chris Chambers, to San Diego at the trading deadline. Trent Green, the 37-year-old quarterback brought in by new coach Cam Cameron, is out for the season with a concussion. Top running back Ronnie Brown went out with a knee injury, and linebacker Zach Thomas is sidelined with a head injury.

"We're not winning any games right now, but I know what we're putting forward," says Jason Taylor, the 2006 defensive player of the year and one of the few solid veterans left. "I know what we're putting into it, and we'll get the results one day. You're never as bad as you think you are, and you're never as good, either."

Except maybe for the Patriots. They just might be that good.