The Fine Fifteen

	Jake Plummer's Broncos have a good chance to wrap up the AFC West in the coming weeks. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

This week's top 15 teams in the NFL:

1. Indianapolis (10-0). Take my word for it: Manning's going to say something to Dungy at some point down the stretch, if the unbeaten run continues. Manning's a competitor. Manning loves football history. He wants the el perfecto.

2. Denver (9-2). I don't see how the Broncos don't secure the second seed and a wild-card bye. They finish at Kansas City, Baltimore at home, at Buffalo, Oakland at home, at San Diego. What's that, two losses max? I think 12-4 locks the second seed.

3. San Diego (7-4). The Chargers put up 397 yards in 61 minutes against a pretty good defense -- and Drew Brees didn't even have a good day.

4. Pittsburgh (7-3). The key for the Steelers tonight, very simply, is to do exactly what Bill Parcells instructed his 1990 offensive coaches to do in the Super Bowl against all-time offensive powerhouse Buffalo, coming off a 51-3 AFC title game trouncing of the Raiders: "Play clockball.'' In other words, give the Colts seven possessions. Eight max. Run the heck out of the ball. Hold the ball for 37 minutes. Run on third-and-four. And Ben Roethlisberger, when you see the play clock at 10, take a deep breath, pick your nose, do whatever, and wait till the clock goes down to 2. Then snap the ball.

5. Chicago (8-3). Did you see Alex Brown against the Bucs? One of the best defensive performances by any player this year.

6. New York Giants (7-4). Sorry. Giants make the biggest jump of the week, and they jump over Seattle, because of the flukiest day of a reliable kicker's life. They outplayed Seattle (490 yards to 355, 151 Tiki Barber rushing yards to Shaun Alexander's 110), in the Seahawks' lovely new home.

7. Seattle (9-2). Looking more and more like a lock for NFC home-field edge, particularly with Carolina making nothing look easy.

8. Dallas (7-4). Look at how Dallas did against the teams in front of it. Lost to Denver in OT, won at San Diego, beat the Giants in OT, lost at Seattle narrowly. Nothing, and I mean, nothing, will surprise me from the Cowboys the rest of the way. They could win the Super Bowl. They could lose a wild-card game.

9. Carolina (8-3). Winning at Buffalo just shouldn't be that hard. This game started the DeShaun Foster era, I think.

10. Tampa Bay (7-4). This is what Jon Gruden said about field-goal kickers walking to the locker room after the game: "$%&*##@%^ kickers!''

11. Jacksonville (8-3). I'm in the minority. I think not only is David Garrard not going to blow the season for Jacksonville, he's going to play well and finish the run to the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs while Byron Leftwich recuperates from the broken bone in his ankle.

12. Cincinnati (8-3). The defense officially worries me, as 74 points surrendered in the past eight quarters should.

13. Atlanta (7-4). Forgotten Falcs.

14. Kansas City (7-4). Best performance of the NFL weekend by any defense: Chiefs hold Pats to 306 yards, pressure and pick Tom Brady four times.

15. New England (6-5). I haven't given up hope for this team. But it's awful hard to like the 2005 Patriots a lot this morning.