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The Colts are responsible only to themselves. And if the powers-that-be in that organization think that protecting the key starters against injury is the best approach, then that is what they should do. People are hopping mad now, and Adam Schefter and Eric Kusilias on Mike and Mike this morning are leading that charge, but the Colts left that game healthy yesterday. And will be healthy when they play whomever they are going to play three weeks from now. The focus is Manning’s absence, which makes sense, but keeping Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne injury-free was perhaps nearly as important. Or Dwight Freeny for that matter. So, yeah, it blows something awful for teams that needed the Colts to give a full effort yesterday, but such are the vagaries of the end of the NFL schedule.

The NFL is begging for a repeat of that next Sunday night too. Shifting the Bengals/Jets game to prime time should only, if the Bengals are smart (which they often are not), make it extra simple to rest anyone of consequence. The game will be essentially meaningless to Cincinnati, and will be that way even if the Pats lose earlier in the day in Houston. And thanks to the prime time road game, the earliest that the team will be back in Cincinnati and in bed is around 4:00 am on Monday morning heading into a playoff week. So, yeah. Sit anyone and everyone. Treat it like a bye week. Get as healthy as possible for whatever team waits in the playoffs.

As for the talking heads this morning, the focus is where you would expect it to be:

—Don Banks at si.com with this thought among others in Snap Judgments:

And so it has come to this for the Denver Broncos. After 16 weeks of being in control of their own fate and playing almost an entire season with a lead of some sort to protect, they must now accept the hard, cold realization that the easier part of their ride is over. As the new year beckons and we stare down the final seven days of the NFL’s regular season, the Broncos, for the first time, need help. Their long-forgotten 6-0 start assures them nothing. Their weeks and weeks spent occupying one of the six slots in the AFC playoff field is meaningless.

You can now almost smell the desperation in Denver. The Broncos (8-7) have to win next week’s home finale against Kansas City (3-12) and hope the Jets (8-7) lose to the already-clinched Bengals in the final game at Giants Stadium or the Ravens (8-7) fall for the second week in a row, this time at Oakland, against the hated Raiders. The very Oakland that last week helped put Denver in this dire situation with a last-second upset at Invesco Field. Oh, the football fates can be cruel indeed.

Yes. I suppose the fates can be cruel. But so can self-inflicted wounds. More so, in fact. Denver had their foot on the throat of that game after having tied it, and had Philly pinned back deep with a 3rd and 25 late in the 4th quarter. Hold, take the punt with good field postion, and have a real good chance to win the game. Or, lose site of the aged Donovan McNabb and let him scramble for 27 yards and the first down. Flipped field position, and ultimately led to the Eagles win. Denver, even when 6-0, had a real thin margin for error, and it remains so as they come off a 2-7 run.

—Clark Judge at sportsline.com with Judgements and this note:

For the first time since taking over as the Giants’ full-time starter, Eli Manning will not make the playoffs — and, pardon me, but don’t blame it on him. The Giants defense had holes the size of the Delaware Water Gap, allowing 40 or more points four times this season, and if I’m Tom Coughlin the first move I make is hiring a new defensive coordinator. The Giants weren’t just bad on defense this season; they stunk. If John Fox doesn’t return as head coach of Carolina I know a club that could use him back coaching its defense.

Or something. And while we’re here, what the fuck, Carolina? Where was that back in the first half of the season? Was it as simple as finally getting Jake Delhomme out of the game? If so, shame on John Fox.

—John Clayton with Last Call at espn.com and this:

Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth summed up a weird AFC Sunday in which teams fighting for playoff spots didn’t play like playoff teams. “Missed opportunities is the moral of this story,” Foxworth said after Baltimore’s loss to the Steelers. The recurring theme for the Ravens was penalties. Remember the three defensive penalties that allowed the Bengals to orchestrate a game-winning touchdown drive in Baltimore earlier this season? Sunday’s mistakes were worse. The Ravens had 11 penalties for 113 yards, compared to four for 20 charged to the Steelers. Less than six minutes after a Foxworth interception return for a touchdown was called back because of linebacker Terrell Suggs’ illegal block, the Ravens had a 15-yard touchdown run by Willis McGahee called back because of a Kelley Washington holding penalty. If that wasn’t bad enough, Derrick Mason dropped a sure touchdown pass in the end zone, and the Ravens had back-to-back penalties early in the fourth quarter — including a stupid personal foul by tackle Oniel Cousins — that pushed Baltimore out of field-goal range with the score tied at 20.

And yet, after the game, the usual bullshit from John Harbaugh about how the Ravens fight and no one can question their intesity. Well shit, coach, people are getting a little tired of that strawman. NO ONE questions Baltimore’s intensity. Ever. They DO question their discipline. And that leads back to you and your coaching staff. The next time that Harbaugh meaningfully addresses the criticism actually being made will be the first time.

As for the rest of my thoughts, ntyc, read on:

—The Bengals have wrung just about everything they could have out of that team, and if they can win one more in the playoffs, it will have been a ridiculously successful year relative to expectations. Hell, it already is. But the injuries they have sustained (particularly on defense) make any more than that a pipe dream. The latest was losing rookie Rey Maulaluga to a broken ankle on a dirty block early in the game yesterday. Still, no complaints about where this year has gone from this Bengals fan. A fun and completely unexpected ride.

—The Seahawks focus for the draft should be simple. Find a quarterback and draft him. At the least, do that.

—Eric Mangini has the Browns playing hard, no easy trick with a team as overmatched talent-wise as Cleveland is. I still assume Mike Holmgren will let him go, but perhaps Mangini has saved a tiny bit of his reptuation in the last month. A smidge.

—If Carolina does not move heaven and earth to get Bill Cowher to their sideline, it redefines stupid. That team has talent and would immediately benefit from marrying what it does well with Cowher’s intensity and focus.

—If the Bears get rolled tonight, can Lovie Smith hold his job? I don’t think so. And I think they get rolled. Give me Minnesota 23 Chicago 7.

That was a rather epic Colts/Pats game last night. Even for those two teams who have played a series of memorable games this decade. And this one will be remembered for Bill Belichick’s riverboat gamble late in the fourth quarter. Especially because it backfired rather spectacularly. No second-guessing on this one, people were first-guessing all over the place. 4th and 2 on your own 28 up six with two minutes to go? You do that on Madden ‘09. You don’t usually see that in an NFL game. Course, if it had worked…genius! At any rate, on to the chattering heads, where that decision and other NFL items are on the plate:

—Don Banks at si.com with Snap Judgments and this amongst other items:

There are no bigger frauds in football than Rex Ryan’s big-talking Jets (4-5), losers of five of their last six games after that 3-0 start. And let me quickly remind everyone that I had fully bought into New York before it got off to a fast getaway, predicting in the preseason it would be an AFC wild-card qualifier. Missed that one.

Ryan keeps talking up his team, but it sounds like so much hot air now that the Jets have lost three consecutive home games to AFC opponents Buffalo, Miami and Jacksonville, none of whom played the Jets with a winning record. The Jaguars were the latest opponent to expose New York’s once-boastful defense, rolling up 347 yards against the Jets and their shoddy tackling, including 139 on the ground. Mathematically, the Jets remain in the AFC wild-card picture. Realistically, they’re done for the year. That loss to Jacksonville was basically an elimination game. And don’t look now, but New York is headed to New England next week. The Patriots, no doubt, have a bit of revenge on their minds.

Uh, yes. Revenge. That and the need to get the taste of the late loss to Indy out of their mouths would appear to make that one a looming bloodbath for the Rex Ryans next week. And if that comes to pass, 4-6 is dead ahead. I will be tuning in this morning to see if Mike Greenberg lights himself on fire on Mike & Mike. Again, after the first three weeks of the season on that show on Monday devolved into a four hour Jets talk show, this development is kinda amusing. In fairness to the Ryan, losing Kris Jenkins on defense as the anchor in the middle and Leon Washington on offense has been pretty damn crippling. Still, injuries have to be overcome if you want to be elite. And the Jets don’t appear to be.

—Clark Judge at sportsline.com with Judgements and this thought among others:

Bill Belichick’s thinking. I’m sorry, but I can’t help but pile on. You don’t give Peyton Manning the football at the New England 30 with two minutes left and dare him to score. But Belichick did. He’s supposed to be smarter than everyone else in this business, but what he did with two minutes left makes absolutely no sense. By taking the risk, he delivered a loud and clear message to his defense, and it went something like this: I DON’T TRUST YOU! At least, he didn’t trust it to stop Peyton Manning. “You have to trust and believe in your players,” said former Patriot Rodney Harrison, now with NBC. “This is the worst coaching decision I’ve ever seen coach Belichick make.” That took guts, Rodney. But you’re right.

I don’t know what guts that took, I am relatively sure Harrison wasn’t due to be at the Belichick house for Thanksgiving dinner. As for the call, maybe he really doesn’t trust his defense. I guess the problem, potentially, is that now they know it. At any rate, the call also said a lot about just how damn good Peyton Manning is right now. Go ahead and ship him the league MVP trophy. If his presence on the sidelines causes such a call, and a lot of folks are defending it, that says as much about Manning’s greatness this year as it does about the call itself. That going for it there is even an option is about Manning.

While we’re kicking around sportsline, Pete Prisco isn’t down with the call either. At all.

—John Clayon at espn.com with Last Call and this notion:

The Falcons, who fell to Carolina 28-19, are making too many mistakes at critical times. Matt Ryan threw a second-quarter interception on a long pass to Michael Jenkins, increasing his interception total to 12. After Ryan threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Justin Peelle to cut the Panthers’ lead to 21-19 early in the fourth quarter, coach Mike Smith made a debatable decision to go for the two-point conversion. The effort failed. Then Ryan got a little too greedy with 3:59 remaining in the fourth quarter by going deep to Jenkins from the Panthers’ 49 on a first down. Cornerback Richard Marshall intercepted the pass. Three plays later, Jonathan Stewart broke open the game with a 45-yard touchdown run. The Falcons’ offense seems lost when Michael Turner isn’t breaking long runs. Turner suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter and couldn’t finish. There is some speculation it might be a high ankle sprain, which could sideline him for a couple of weeks. The Falcons were out of sync after that.

The Falcons are 5-4, and basically are battling the NFC East runner-up for a wild-card spot. Sunday’s loss puts more pressure on them. Atlanta plays the 5-4 New York Giants next Sunday in Giants Stadium. On Dec. 6, it hosts the 5-4 Philadelphia Eagles. If the Falcons don’t fix their problems, they could lose to both teams, and subsequently lose playoff tiebreakers down the road.

It’s not like Atlanta doesn’t have weapons on offense aside from Turner. Roddy White has been damn good at WR, as has Tony Gonzalez at TE. Too many mistakes from Matt Ryan have not helped. And, at 1-4 outside of the Georgia Dome, they have been an atrocious road team. That doesn’t bode well for a game that will shape the season for both teams next week in New York against the Giants.

—Bucky Brooks at nfl.com with capsule looks at each game including this:

The Bengals’ defense hasn’t exactly flown under the radar, but the unit’s sensational performance against the Steelers is another example of the outstanding play that has become a trademark of the group. The Bengals held the Steelers to 226 yards of offense and relentlessly pressured Ben Roethlisberger. Cincinnati relied on a mixture of five-man pressures to complement its standard four-man rush to keep Roethlisberger on the move. While those four-man rushes involved some stunts and twists, the Bengals didn’t blitz much, which allowed the team to commit more defenders to coverage and keyed their surprising suffocation of the Steelers’ passing game.

It’s a testament to good drafting several years ago of physical defensive lineman who are starting to come into their own that the Bengals finally have a defense worthy of their division. When Antwan Odom went down, I figured they were about to get gashed again up front. But relative unknowns like Frostee Rucker and Jonathan Fanene have risen to the occasion and been smart and physical a the point of attack. For years I have watched Pittsburgh and Baltimore replenish their fronts with 3rd, 4th, and 5th round types and been jealous. Finally, Cincinnati appears to have joined that party.

As for my thoughts on the day, ntyc, read on:

—Whatever the merits of Kyle Orton vs. Jay Cutler, there is no doubting the merits of Kyle Orton vs. Chris Simms. That would be Orton, in a landslide. With Denver’s fast start all of a sudden teetering with home games dead ahead against the fiery hot Chargers and desperate Giants, they better hope that Orton can go. Simms’ second half of 3 for 13 for 13 yards was positively Jamarcus-esque.

—Speaking of Jamarcus, benched again in Oakland, and this time Tom Cable thinks it may stick. Damn. His weekly stat line was one of the fun things about Mondays this fall. For the record, in case he doesn’t go against Cincy next week, that was a 9 for 24 he put up against KC for 67 yards. His replacement? Bruce Gradkowski, who was 4 of 8 for 46 yards. Course, Gradkowski threw two picks, and Russell had none, so Russell had that going for him. Oakland is back in the qb market next April…

—Does Jeff Fisher’s stubbornness at sticking with Kerry Collins get remembered in light of how well Tennessee is playing now that Vince Young is back under center? And, weird how focusing the offense on Chris Johnson is paying dividends…

—Looking at the highlights montage on SC, it would appear that an eruption of Mt. Owens is imminent.

—At 5-4, Green Bay is right back in the thick of the Wild Card race in the NFC. And that is due in no small measure to their defense finally showing back up. As much heat as Aaron Rodgers has taken for his high sack total (and he should), the bigger issue in Green Bay has been that the Packers defense has been, by and large, very bad this year. Shutting out Dallas from 58 minutes, though, that was noteworthy.

—Any team in the NFC who is 4-5 or better is very much alive for the Wild Card thanks to Philly’s latest gag and Atlanta’s continued troubles. Lovie Smith of the 4-5 Bears should send gift baskets to Andy Reid and Mike Smith.

—As for tonight’s game, given how angry Baltimore is, and how really not good Cleveland is, it is hard to come up with a scenario where that game is in doubt into the second quarter. Give me the Ravens in a 30 – 10 or so romp.

Revenge. Dished cold and all that. The talking heads are on that and other things this morning. To the chatter:

—Don Banks, leading it off as usual, with Snap Judgements and this on the Cowboys’ day:

Believe it or not, the Cowboys’ 38-17 home-field destruction of Seattle on Sunday sets up next week’s NFC East first-place showdown at Philadelphia, with 5-2 Dallas testing its new-found mojo against the 5-2 Eagles. To the winner goes the undisputed grasp of the division’s top spot at the season’s mid-point, no matter what the floundering Giants (5-3) do next week at home against San Diego. Honestly now, a month or so ago, with the Cowboys 2-2 and in a bit of disarray coming off that humbling loss at Denver, did any of us see a first-place battle in the Cowboys’ not-too-distant future? Yes, I see that hand, and you can put it down now, Mr. Jones.

To be sure, the Cowboys didn’t play their best game in trouncing the fading Seahawks (2-5). They left some points on the field, and gave up a good chunk of yardage defensively (Seattle had 308 total yards). But you can also see a team that’s starting to believe in itself, and the Tony Romo-led passing game is finally humming at early 2007 (or better) levels. Dallas scored five touchdowns, and four came from the previously maligned receiving corps: Sam Hurd, Roy Williams, Miles Austin and Patrick Crayton. True, Crayton’s score came on an 82-yard punt return, sealing the deal in the third quarter, but the important point is that the Cowboys’ playmakers are taking turns making plays. And that’s when an offense starts to take off. Romo finished 21 of 36 for 256 yards, and three scores, but the best part of his day was completing passes to 10 receivers, with none having more than Austin’s team-leading five receptions for 61 yards. Gone are those bad old days of the T.O. era, when Romo looked tortured if he didn’t get the ball to No. 81 early and often. Romo is now content to find the open man, no matter who it is, and keep moving the chains. He has gone three consecutive games without an interception, the first such streak of his career.

Yes, that’s a nice run. But let’s be somewhat real here, it’s not December yet, and Romo is in the middle of his November comfort zone. The questions with Romo and Dallas will not be answered this month. Still, wins are wins, and the flaws with New York visible for all to see, no reason why Dallas cannot figure it has as good a shot for the NFC East as the Giants or Eagles.

—Clark Judge at sportsline.com with Judgements and this note amongst others:

Don’t tell me Eli Manning’s sore foot isn’t affecting his passing. He looks like a different quarterback, and while he insists the plantar fasciitis isn’t interfering with his play (“It feels great”) he seems to have trouble stepping into his throws. Manning doesn’t agree, and that’s OK. I wouldn’t expect him to. But his coach at least admits it’s possible. “I’ve seen that a couple of times on the practice field,” Tom Coughlin said. All I know is the guy who was bulletproof the first five weeks has gone in the jar the last three — completing 49.6 percent of his passes, with six interceptions and no passer rating above 61.0. In his first five starts, he hit on 64.4 percent of his passes, with two interceptions and four passer ratings of 104.1 or better — including one perfect score of 158.3. Something is wrong, and Eli needs to get it fixed.

Ah yes. The foot. Had forgotten about that. Week one of the foot injury was the beatdown of the Raiders. The following weeks of the foot injury were against NFL varsity teams. And that’s when the issues have been. So, foot? Or playing varsity defenses? And IF it is the foot, well, what up, Tom Coughlin? Didn’t the Giants used to have a running game? What of Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw? If you quarterback is playing dinged, can’t you protect him and control the game by running? Issues all over the place for the Giants. They owe a debt of thanks to the Yankees this morning for distracting the local populace a little with some goodness…

—John Clayton at espn.com with Last Call and this note:

Ravens solve Broncos: The Ravens were the first team to unravel the mystery of the Denver Broncos, who had their six-game winning streak snapped in a 30-7 blowout in Baltimore. In many ways, the Ravens’ defense had a perfect game plan. Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton doesn’t throw the ball long. Entering the game, he had only 16 passes that went longer than 21 yards in six games. The Ravens kept one safety deep in coverage and designed their pass defense to keep Denver’s receivers in front of it. “We blitzed a lot more with a safety playing high,” Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth said. “It puts pressure on the secondary but it also put pressure on the quarterback. The way to beat that is screen and hitches, but we did a good job of coming to the ball.” Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis said the key was keeping receivers Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal in front of the defensive backs and rushing three and four defenders to stop them. It worked. Orton passed for only 152 yards; according to ESPN Stats & Information, Orton completed only 4 of 10 passes for 17 yards when the Ravens brought extra pressure. On offense, the Ravens negated the ability of Denver’s defense to make second-half adjustments by coming out in a no-huddle and working at a tempo that wore down defenders. Joe Flacco completed his last 14 passes for 159 yards.

Yeah, nice gameplan from Baltimore, although I think this one boils down to something simpler. Baltimore needed this one desperately to avoid falling to 3-4 and kissing the division goodbye, while Denver at 6-0 and three plus games clear for San Diego, didn’t need it so much. Desperate good teams will be beat non-desperate good teams more often than not. As for Baltimore’s defense being “back” as I am sure I will here a lot of this week in locally here in Baltimore, we’ll see. In their next four weeks they have a return engagement with Carson Palmer, as well as games against Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers on the slate. Those quarterbacks will get the ball downfield more than Cutler did yesterday.

—Bucky Brooks at nfl.com with capsule looks of the week and this note:

The Panthers’ success on the ground against the Cardinals, who entered as the league’s top-ranked rush defense, was a surprise when considering how Jake Delhomme had struggled. With that in mind, the Panthers faced steady diet of eight-man fronts designed to stop DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart early on. However, the tactic failed miserably as Carolina rushed for 270 yards on 44 attempts and dominated the game. The key to the success was the use of a slot formation against Arizona’s eight-man front. By placing both receivers on the same side of the formation, the Panthers were able to draw a defender outside of the box on the two-receiver side due to the threat of a pass to Steve Smith. With fewer defenders able to commit to stopping the run, Stewart and Williams found soft spots when running to the tight end side.

What the hell, Arizona? Just as I was buying into the “new” Cardinals, you unleash that? It’s one thing to lose to Carolina, it’s another to do it while letting the Panthers run all over your previously number one against the defense run defense. I will chalk this up to “overlooked them” after the big win against the Giants, but, yuck. You can thank the football deity you hang out in the execrable NFC West for allowing you to get away with crap performances like that.

As for my thoughts, trademarked ntyc, here they be:

—I feel bad for Packers fans this morning. This whole thing came about because of their front office’s stubborness, really. But it had to be a craptacular feeling watching Favre return and throw four touchdowns for the Vikings. If Favre stays healthy (a big if), still no reason to see Minnesota as anything other than a Super Bowl contender in the NFC.

—Browns fans owe Buffalo a note of gratitude. I am still not certain how Buffalo lost that game to them a few weeks back, but it may be what keeps Cleveland from 0-16. And that’s including me acknowledging the games Cleveland has left with Kansas City, Detroit, and Oakland. Of all the lost franchises in the NFL right now, Cleveland may be the most puzzling. They have had a boatload of high draft picks over the years, and have hit on so very few of them. Organizational failure from the top down. And, while we’re here, the insistence on continuing to start Derek Anderson? Now it’s weird. It made sense to give him a look a few weeks back, but he’s been historically awful since. Unless he’s playing the Bengals (who he for some reason just loves lining up against), he should be in the locker room. They need to go back to Brady Quinn, if only to make certain they should be drafting a qb next April early.

—Big “quiet” win for Houston yesterday in Buffalo, in exactly the kind of game they usually lose. On the road, against a team they should beat in November, has in previous years been a recipe for failure. Perhaps Gary Kubiak is finally pushing the right buttons for that team. His benching of Steve Slaton after a Slaton fumble was bold, and Ryan Moats ran like his hair was on fire when given a chance in Slaton’s stead. At 5-3, they are going to be Wild Card relevant late into the season. 10 wins remains a possibility for them, and they own an important head to head tie-breaker over Cincinnati.

—So the Titans re-discover Chris Johnson and get a win? I have always thought Jeff Fisher an outstanding coach, but his misplacing Johnson after week two this year was as big a reason the Titans were 0-6 before yesterday’s win as anything else. If he will keep feeding Johnson, Tennessee will win several more games this year, even with Vince Young being the one handing the ball off.

—The Lions, still the cure for what ails teams, non-Washington division. The Rams, playing to avoid 0-16, frankly, did what they had to do, which was ride Steven Jackson to a win. At the least, now St. Louis can play without worrying about the history books. As for Detroit, they would probably like to get everyone healthy and o the field at some point this year. Finally got Matt Stafford back, and still can’t put Calvin Johnson with him.

—The Chargers are still only Wild Card relevant at this point, and I am having a hard time buying them for that, when they continue to struggle with teams like the Raiders. Eight point wins at home over Oakland are puzzling for a team with San Diego’s talent.

—As for tonight’s game, Atlanta needs this one fairly badly, as a loss would give them three and put them into the Wild Card scrum with Chicao, Green Bay, and most of the NFC East. They may be desperate, but New Orleans is simply better. Saints 31 Falcons 24.