4:30 SATURDAY IN HOUTON
HOUSTON (10-6) -3 OVER CINCINNATI (9-7)(38.5) –The Bengals play in the toughest division in football in “my opinion”. The AFC North.  Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and an occasionally tough game from the Browns.  I love their rookie QB Andy Dalton.  Having played his college football right down the road at TCU, he’s played a few games as a high school player and a college player in Reliant Stadium.  Whether this turns out to be an advantage for him we’ll see, but personally, I doubt it will be.  Houston gets back their real MVP for the second week in a row, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, fresh from surgery which removed a volleyball size tumor from his midsection.  The outcome of this game is going to depend on which defense can get off the field the most times.  Houston has an excellent running game with Arian Foster and Ben Tate.  Their OL is a good one.  T.J. Yates will get the start after injuring his shoulder last week.  Newly signed backup QB and Super Bowl veteran Jake Delhomme will back him up.  He did a decent job last week in relief.  Andy Dalton had food poisoning early in the week and just got to practice on Thursday.  This shouldn’t matter much, but everything matters when you have a game on Saturday and practice times are moved up a day.  If you compare the two teams on paper and on their performance of this past season, Houston is the better team.  However, they’ve lost their last 3 games in a row after locking up the division title.  They have a fairly healthy Andre Johnson back this week and how the Bengals elect to defend Johnson will determine whether Yates can hit his other receivers down the field.  If they run the ball effectively, they should have a problem.  Earlier this season the Texans came from behind to defeat the Bengals 20-19.  THAT WAS THEIR LAST WIN.  I’M GOING TO PASS ON THIS GAME BECAUSE I THINK DALTON MIGHT BE THE DIFFERENCE IN THIS GAME.
 
4:30 SUNDAY IN DENVER
PITTSBURGH (12-4) -9 OVER DENVER (8-8)(35) – You would think this game would be a piece of cake to pick because of the way that Tebow and the Broncos backed in with three straight losses and in a way..it is.  But Pittsburgh hasn’t exactly looked like world beaters with Big Ben nursing a very sore ankle that affects his throwing motion and losing a guy like Ryan Clark because of his near death experience last time he played in a game in Mile High Stadium.  In the two games since injuring his ankle, Ben has thrown no touchdown passes and has a 57.1 QB rating.  Rashard Mendenhall, the Steelers best running back is out for the season with an knee injury.  Isaac Redman replaces Mendenhall but he has a problem hanging on to the football.  The Steelers, even though their record is 12-4 are the visiting team here because somehow Denver won the weak AFC West Division with an 8-8 record.  Personally, I’d love to just take the Steelers here and give the points.  If they were at Heinz Field it would make sense.  But they’re not.  And I think that even with all the experience in the world, 9 or 10 points is far too many points to give this young Denver team.  Hey, take Tebow and the points doesn’t sound all that bad does it?  Besides, last week the Steelers killed me with their lack of covering an easy point spread.  I’M GOING TO PASS ON THIS GAME AND WATCH IT.  
 
1 P.M. SUNDAY IN NEW JERSEY
NEW YORK GIANTS (9-7) -3 OVER ATLANTA (10-6)(47) – This is the game I can’t wait to see this weekend.  Both teams will be sky high for this one.  Atlanta, Mike Smith, and QB Matt Ryan are 0-2 in the playoffs so far.  The last meeting between these two teams was in 2009 and the Giants won 34-31 in overtime after allowing the Falcons to rally and come back from 14 points down.  Even though the Giants defense bends quite a bit especially in the passing game, they’ve looked very good at times this season, especially when their pass rushers get off on the ball.  They beat New England in Foxboro 24-20.  Their last two games they’ve given up just two touchdowns each game for a total of 28 points.  But now a slightly better team comes to the Meadowlands.  The Falcons have a vast array of weapons both throwing and running the football.  Michael Turner may be one of the toughest backs in the NFL.  He averaged 4.5 yards per carry this year and scored 11 TD’s.  QB Matt Ryan is a solid NFL QB and has receivers like Roddy White, Julio Jones, and future Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez to help him move the chains.  To me, this looks like a track meet waiting to happen.  Eli Manning is having without a doubt his best year ever in the NFL.  My sources tell me Peyton has spent more time than usual talking and working with his little brother now that he has some extra time on his hands.  I figure Peyton will be a great OC one day anyway.  He’ll be throwing to Hakeem Nix, Mario Manningham, and new superstar free agent receiver Victor Cruz who will be making life much easier for the rest of the receiving corps.  Even though their running game has been stagnant most of the year, they still have two excellent ball runners in Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs.  The bottom line is that it really didn’t take too much to win the NFC East this season, but now that the Giants are there, they want what they got four years ago.. The Lombardi Trophy.  Who’s to say they can’t get it?  Not me!  I like the G-Men’s chances to go deep into the playoffs.  But this Falcon team is hungry and they do have a good squad this season.  If they let this one get away, it could be a while before they return for another chance.   I’M TAKING THE OVER 47 POINTS HERE FOR 5 STARS.  TRACK MEET THIS WEEKEND EAST RUTHERFORD!
 
4:30 SUNDAY IN DENVER
NEW ORLEANS (13-3) -11 OVER DETROIT (10-6)(58) – After the Lions let a Packers team last weekend beat them with about a half dozen starters out of the lineup in a game that really meant nothing, I should never even consider Detroit to be able to win or cover this game.  But that’s what makes handicapping the NFL so challenging.  New Orleans has the most potent offense in the history of the NFL.  Drew Brees broke Dan Marino’s record and his team broke all the records.  He has SO many weapons on offense that It makes it extremely hard for a defensive coordinator to come up with a game plan to beat them.  The only thing that Detroit can do is make sure that they cash in on all of their possessions with touchdowns and keep Brees and his offense off the field.  If Detroit can control the ball for 30 minutes or more during this game they’ll have a chance.  If not , it’s going to be a New Orleans track meet and the score will get ugly early.  Earlier this season Brees jumped to an early 24-7 lead and held on to win 31-17.  Not many defenses have held the Lions to 17 points this season and definitely not lately. However, Greg Williams has experience playing against a high powered offense every week in practice so maybe handling Detroit isn’t so far-fetched.  Detroit’s pass defense is absolutely horrible even though they may get back one of their best defensive backs this week.  The Saints only allow one sack every 26.9 passes.  The Saints have scored over 30 points in 4 consecutive playoff games.  This is the first time and maybe last time two NFL QBs who have thrown for over 5,000 yards in a season have faced each other.   It may be the last.  Break out the popcorn and don’t go to the bathroom.  You might miss something.  Of course, that’s what TIVO is for, right??  I’M TAKING THE OVER FOR 5 STARS AND THE NEW ORLEANS SAINTS TO COVER THE BIG NUMBER.  IT MAY BE TOO MANY POINTS, BUT IT’S MY GUT FEELING.