ABC Monday Night Football: Jags (9-2) @ Dolphins (11-0) in "The Perfect Season Part 12" (Madden 07)

Live from Pro Player Stadium, it's the Dolphins versus the Jags on ABC and ESPN. Injury Report: Ronnie Brown (IN), Daunte Culpepper (OUT; shoulder, per EAS NFL Insider Jake Small). Rookie Jonathan Morse will make his first career start. This in-state, intra-divisional matchup has the juice to grow into one of pro football's best rivalries. You have to go back to January 2000, when the Jaguars dominated the Dolphins 62-7 in the final game for legends Dan Marino and Jimmy Johnson. The Marino Mystique, if you will, died on that day, and Jacksonville might've lost something too. Because after reaching the AFC Championship Game for the 2nd time (in 96/97 and 99/00), they have only one playoff appearance (2005) and no playoff wins. This year, Jacksonville has put together a team solid on both sides of the ball. Quarterback Byron Leftwich and rookie head coach Doug Marrone have guided them to a 9-2 record. Playoffs are almost a certainty, but the division is still in reach. When the NFL had "The Great Realignment of 2006", it moved all three Florida teams into the same division, the newly reconstructed AFC South, with the Carolina Panthers. The Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans moved into the NFC South for a more central/south division, although it preserved the Falcons-Saints rivalry. The Rams and Raiders also swapped conferences, and then the Redskins and Cardinals flip-flopped divisions two years later. Skeptics in Miami who wanted to preserve their own historic rivalries just had to take note of the run of dominance in New England. Meanwhile, the rivalries each of those teams had with each other (NYJ/BUF/NE) made Miami even more of an afterthought. So instead of the Dolphins, it was decided the Colts would reform the AFC East, as more of a counterbalance to the Pats. And the new AFC South would also make more geographical sense, while allowing the rivalries between the Jaguars-Bucs-Dolphins to thrive. If and when Miami faced the Bills, Jets, or Patriots, it would be in the playoffs. Since then, under the stewardship of Nick Saban, the Dolphins have won the division in back to back years, and have clinched their spot in this year's tournament already. This season has been the most impressive so far in the Saban era, but with every game, the pressure ratchets up even more. Usually, when the last team to lose a game finally gets an L on their record, the members of the '72 Dolphins (the only perfect team in NFL History) pop champagne. But this year, it's the opposite. You better believe it, they won't pop any bottles unless they go all the way. Music Featured: "Like a G6" by Far East Movement