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Saturday:

Indiannapolis at Baltimore
Sure, that Indy run defense stepped up! But that was at home, where they always step up. Now they go into THE most hostile environment for visiting teams the last 6-7 years. That Ravens D reacts to that and will be potent as ever and will be much stronger this week. The Kansas City pass D was nothing compared to what Peyton will see. He will make plays, but they will be too few and too far in between to stop the Ravens. McNair will also feed off of that energy.

Philadelphia at New Orleans
This matchup is pretty intense! You have Jeff Garcia and Drew Brees, two lights-out quarterbacks leading high potent offenses. Brian Westbrook killed the Giants last week. Drew Brees has Reggie Bush, Marques Colston, and a host of other targets. This game is a battle between Brees's wits and the Eagles D. If Brees can read the Eagles blitzes or use Deuce McCallister, this game is the Saints. I'm picking the Saints. Lito Sheppard will desperately be missed for this game and it will work to Brees's advantage. Then again, the Eagles have a slight advantage (5-3 on the road compared to the Saints' 4-4 at home, then again Baltimore is darn near impossible to beat. That 12th man will be in there for New Orleans.)

Sunday:

Seattle at Chicago

Seattle's D came out strong last week. Anyone calling them undermanned or underexperienced should look at what they did yesterday to Tony Romo and the Cowboys. This week, Rex Grossman has to excel for the Bears given that. That Chicago D will make it hard on Hasselbeck and Alexander. They will give the combo a harder time than Dallas's D did. The Bears really need that 12th man here if they are going to prevail. And they will, but not after a long game that will include maybe 10 minutes of sudden-death overtime.

New England at San Diego

Hmmm!! Why don't they ever pick THESE games to be on NFL network in the middle of the season? The Pats are almost unstoppable while Schottenheimer can't find a way to win. Something has to give. The Chargers have LT, who has been unstoppable during the regular season. The question becomes: will he be like Shaun Alexander and continue to excel in the postseason or will he sputter? The best opponent the Chargers beat were Kansas City (9-7) (who they lost to once) and Denver (9-7). The Patriots beat the Bears (13-3) and lost to the Colts (12-4), both at home. But that was the regular season. That was also when the Patriots played at home. They are 7-1 on the road but San Diego has not yet been beaten at home this season/postseason. This is going to be a really fun game to watch! But the Patriots will pull this one off. They are way better at this time of year than in the regular season.