Colts at Ravens: (Ravens favored by 4) If the Colts play this week like they did against the Chiefs last weekend, the Ravens' defense will crush Indy like a bug. I suspect that we will see a better Colts team, however, and thus will get to test that age old NFL question: In a clash between a great offense and a great defense, which wins? It is too reflexive and pat simply to assert that great D beats great O. Sometimes it does. More often than you think, it doesn't. In the end a team with a great offense still needs a D to hold up its end of the bargain and vice versa, and special teams always play a role, as does game planning, matchups, and the thousand other things that determine the course of any football game. But that the Colts offense will improve is probably not sufficient. I see Baltimore shutting down the Colts running game -- I simply do not see the Ravens' D succumbing to a rookie like Joseph Addai. Which leads us to Peyton Manning and the Colts' passing game. Manning will be good. But he won't be good enough, and on Monday we will be discussion, among other things, whether Manning will ever be able to lead a team to a title. The Baltimore D is nearly as good as it was in 2000-2001 and their offense is better, even if it is still not a juggernaut. The Ravens will win by forcing a couple of crucial turnovers. Ravens 23-Colts 17
Eagles at Saints: (Saints by 5) I don't see the Eagles as being good enough to derail the great story that is the Saints. It is as simple as that. Forget about the angles, the permutations, the ephemera. Oftentimes the answer is easier than it seems: The better team usually wins. By most measures, the Saints are the better team. The only question I have is whether they are too young and too inexperienced in games like this one. The Eagles have a great story with Jeff Garcia as well, but the surge of the post-Katrina Saints continues this weekend. Saints 34-Eagles 24
Seahawks at Bears: (Bears by 8.5) Let me be succinct: The Seahawks stink. The Bears, even with serious questions at quarterback and despite a sense that they peaked too early, do not. Any other assessment is superfluous. Bears 27-Seahawks 10
Patriots at Chargers (Chargers by 5) This will be the game of the weekend. All week I have had the same worries that has concerned everyone who roots for or is affiliated with the Patriots: Can they stop or at least contain LaDanian Tomlinson, and can they find a way to slow down Shawne "'Roid Rage" Merriman and the rest of that Chargers' D? But the Chargers also have a rookie quarterback. And the Patriots have Bill Belichick. In the colonial era in Africa, there was a bit of doggerel verse that the British liked to quote when issues of whether they could hold on to the colonies in the face of bitter native resistance emerged: "Whatever happens we have got, the Gatling gun and they have not." For this weekend I am going to adopt and provide a twist on this concept: "Whatever it is the Chargers have got, the Pats have Brady and they do not." Patriots 34-Chargers 27
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