Miami's Mercury Morris crosses the goal line against New England in 1972.

New England running back Laurence Maroney breaks away against the Dolphins earlier this season.

Allow us, for a moment, to interrupt these NFL playoffs to mull the ultimate sports hypothetical:

What would happen if the 1972 Dolphins, in their prime, could play these New England Patriots?

(The Patriots, who defeated San Diego in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game, surpassed the ’72 Dolphins’ 17-0 record and need one victory to join them in sports immortality, as the only undefeated teams in NFL history.)

Dolphins radio analyst Jim Mandich, a tight end on that 1972 team, doesn’t even need to give the question much thought.

“They would kick our behinds from one side of the field to the other,” Mandich said.

Another ’72 alum, former safety Dick Anderson, concurred: “Based on their speed and size, we would get our butts kicked.”

And ’72 alum Jim Kiick conceded, “Physically, it would be tough to compete. Today’s athletes are a lot better.”

But not everyone on the ’72 team agrees, and that is where discussion of this sports fantasy becomes spirited.

A few Dolphins said that if this make-believe game could be played, Miami would have a good chance to win – but only if it were contested under the NFL’s old rules, when more contact was permitted between defensive backs and receivers.

The difference in the rules is significant because the Patriots led the league in passing yards per game (295.7) and set an NFL record by averaging 36.8 points.

“If we play under the old rules, we win going away,” former Dolphins guard Bob Kuechenberg asserted. “We would be on the field three quarters of the day. If it’s under the new rules, I suppose you have to give it to them if you can’t do bump-and-run and limit their speed.”

Under today’s “chucking” rules, some contact between a defensive player and a receiver is permitted, but only within five yards of the line scrimmage.

Under the rules in place in 1972, “defenses could hit receivers any place on the field,” Anderson said. “We couldn’t hit them in the back or when the ball was in the air, but you could knock a receiver down, and then someone else could knock him down.”

If the Dolphins could use those rules to defend Patriots receivers Randy Moss and Wes Welker, “I think we probably could win,” defensive tackle Manny Fernandez said. “Under the current rules, it would be really tough. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady would just shred our secondary.”

Said running back Mercury Morris: “Using our rules, the Patriots become like anybody else.”

Mandich and Kuechenberg noted that the Dolphins were able to neutralize Cincinnati’s Isaac Curtis, one of the fastest receivers of his generation, because the rules worked to the defense’s advantage.

“Former Dolphins defensive coordinator Bill Arnsparger took Curtis out of the game with an ax technique – the cornerback cutting the receiver at the line of scrimmage,” Mandich said. “Bill, by those rules, would make sure Randy Moss was a nonfactor.”

And Anderson said Minnesota used four-receiver sets back then, so the Dolphins would be prepared for that from the Patriots, although he noted they never saw teams lining up five receivers in his era.

“We never left anyone uncovered in the slot,” Anderson said.

Playing under the old rules, Kuechenberg said he believes the Dolphins would be able to “shorten the game, so Brady doesn’t get on the field, and pound their receivers all day long. We kept the ball 35, 36 minutes a game. That leaves them with only 24, 25 minutes.”

Said former Dolphins center Jim Langer: “I’m not going to say if we could beat the Patriots – and I would be surprised if we could – but if you could check anyone all over the field, under the old rules, until the ball is thrown, that neutralizes their passing game. It would even the scales. Moss could not run free.”

Anderson also noted that the old rules played to the Dolphins’ strength because “the premium was on the running game. It was tougher to complete passes, so teams ran more.”

The Patriots’ big advantage – especially under the current rules – is undeniable: Players of this era are bigger and faster.

Could an in-his-prime Anderson, who often defended the slot receiver, keep up with Welker? “Hell, no,” Anderson said. “But if it’s a zone defense and somebody knocked him down, I’d have my eyes on the ball.”

According to weights listed in the Dolphins’ 1972 media guide, their starting offensive line of Langer, Kuechenberg, Larry Little, Doug Crusan and Norm Evans averaged 253 pounds, with Little listed as the heaviest at 265. But Langer, listed at 250, said those weights were understated, and he played the ’72 season at 265.

Either way, they would be at a huge disadvantage against a Patriots defensive line anchored by Vince Wilfork (325 pounds), Richard Seymour (310) and Ty Warren (300).

“The weight issue is overstated,” Langer said, asserting the Dolphins could run against the Patriots, with Larry Csonka, Morris and Kiick carrying the load. “We were very active and mobile. Another 50 pounds doesn’t mean a damn thing. It’s all about leverage.”

Said Kuechenberg: “The ’72 Dolphins were the lightest team in the NFL. Could they beat bigger teams? Yes, I think so. That’s the way to beat the Patriots. They can be run on. You can pound them. We’re the best body punchers that ever suited up. No team has pounded a team like the ’72 and ’73 Dolphins pounded people.”

Defensively, the Dolphins’ front four of Vern Den Herder, Fernandez, Bob Heinz (who started eight games) and Bill Stanfill averaged 251 pounds, according to the team’s media guide. The Patriots’ starting offensive line – Dan Koppen, Matt Light, Logan Mankins, Nick Kaczur and Stephen Neal – averaged 306, with Kaczur leading the way at 315.

“If I had to play them every week for 14 weeks, it would make a difference,” conceded Fernandez, who was listed at 250 pounds in the 1972 media guide.

But if the teams played only once or twice, Fernandez doesn’t believe the Dolphins would be overwhelmed by the Pats’ size.

“I bench pressed 500 pounds, and I played against 300- to 320-pound guys,” he said. “I got three sacks against the Eagles’ Bob Brown, who was 325 pounds. Mounting a pass rush is easier than stopping the run. But their running game is pretty average. We could have stopped it well enough.”

Anderson, meanwhile, suggested the matchup would be more competitive if all the ’72 Dolphins lifted weights more, and if they had a better facility than the “universal gym, that was rusted, at Biscayne College.”