Although Brett Favre set the all-time record for INTs earlier this season, finally topping ol’ George Blanda’s mark of 277 to the relief of Packer fans everywhere, No. 4 probably won’t lead the league in INTs this season. He did throw a couple of picks Sunday against the Bears, to raise his season total to 15. But the Packers are locked into the No. 2 seed in the NFC, and although he’ll keep his starting streak alive this weekend against the Lions, Favre should not play enough to throw five interceptions.

The league leaders in this dubious category heading into the final week of play are Eli Manning and Carson Palmer, both with 19 INTs this season, and Derek Anderson, Jon Kitna and Tony Romo with 18. And we can’t rule out Vince Young, who’s thrown 17 INTs this season. The Giants are locked into the No. 5 spot in the NFC, so Manning shouldn’t have to do too much against New England Saturday night. Cincinnati is out of contention, and we’re not sure just how much Palmer will play Sunday at Miami. Cleveland is in the unusual situation in that they have no control over their playoff fate; if Tennessee wins, the Browns are out, and if the Titans lose, the Brownies are in. So it’s hard to say what might happen with Anderson when Cleveland hosts San Francisco.

Detroit plays a meaningless game at Green Bay and Dallas visits Washington with nothing on the line for them, so again, it’s difficult to discern what Kitna and Romo might do. But we’ll go with Palmer to win this dubious race, although we wouldn’t put much more than a dollar on it.

Full credit to the Ravens for putting the boots to the Patriots Monday night. Their reward: another game staring at big chalk, this time against the Indianapolis Colts.

Baltimore managed to run for big yards against the Patriots. Run defense happens to be the one area where New England isn’t world-class, sitting at No. 11 in efficiency. The Colts are even worse in this department at No. 21, and they won’t be getting any better without injured Dwight Freeney on the defensive line.

But are the Ravens in any mood to beat the Colts? Losing to New England the way they did was a punch in the gut. Players are questioning coaches, blaming officials, and otherwise gazing at their navels after losing what analysts were calling “their Super Bowl.” Beating the 10-2 Colts just won’t have the same motivational zest to it, even as a revenge game from last year’s playoffs.

Two undefeated teams meeting this late in the NFL season? What are the chances? Well here it is folks- Super Bowl 41 1/2.

The quarterbacks alone make this soon-to-be-classic match-up between the 8-0 Patriots and the 7-0 Colts a special one. Brady is set to break Manning’s record of 49 touchdown passes in one season but don’t think this minimizes Manning’s greatness at all. On Sunday night we are going to see a three-time Super Bowl champ in Brady taking on Manning, a man who choreographs plays from the line of scrimmage, commands the the offense like a front-line general and pin-points passes like a heat-seeking missile.

Neither of these champion athletes is refusing to ease off the accelerator. But by Sunday evening one will be left defeated, while the other will be crowned King- at least until Super Bowl.

Skepticism continues to mount over the Indianapolis Colts and their title defense, although expect it to be muted this week after Indy pasted the Saints 41-10 on Thursday night.

The Colts are 8-1 odds to win Super Bowl XLII; not only are they behind New England and San Diego on the odds list, but they’ve also been joined at 8-1 by both New Orleans and Chicago, the team they put away at SBXLI.

Defense is once again the big question mark in Indy, enough so that Jacksonville is looking more and more like legitimate AFC South contenders. The Colts remain the overwhelming division favorites at 1-3.

Interested in making some free picks? Check out The Fanyard.

If Indy’s offense doesn’t propel the team to the division title, there’s still some buffer room for a Wild Card even if the Colts skim under the posted total of 10.5 victories. The “under” is a slim dog at –105. Then the playoff gauntlet begins. The Colts are 5-1 to win the AFC, which just goes to show the sheer amount of talent in the conference.