Several good teams face close battles in Week 10

If you watch any of this game, you'll be surprised by two things. The Colts will not blow Buffalo out, because the Bills have a bunch of young, energetic defensive players just out of college who view every foe as beatable. And you will love the play of strong safety Donte Whitner. This guy's going to be a force in the NFL for a long time.

I am wearing a black armband for Rodney Harrison right now. No one north of Drew Brees or east of Carson Palmer worked harder to come back from an injury this offseason than Harrison, who broke his shoulder on the third defensive snap of the Colts game last week. A damn shame. Every player should play with the verve of Rodney Harrison. Dirty, schmirty.

Yo-yo season continues for Falcs. Wipe the floor with Panthers, Bucs, and get wiped by the Saints. Inspirational wins over the Steelers and Bengals, followed by a dispiriting loss at lowly Detroit. Points scored: 167. Points allowed: 164. My crystal ball tells me wild card, at best. Sixth seed, at best.

Jon Kitna has 375 more passing yards than Tom Brady. You watch. Kitna's going to throw for 4,000 this year, and everyone's going to say: How'd that happen? Simple. If you're a quarterback with an accurate arm, you will be a star when you play for Mike Martz.

If you have any idea which team on either side of the field will show up Sunday, follow these instructions very carefully: Sell your home, buy a one-way ticket to Vegas, rent the Bon Jovi Suite at the Hard Rock Hotel, and start betting big on football because you're about to be very rich.

So I ask Chad Johnson on Monday: "How you doing?" He says: "I suck." He reads the writing on the striped wall. T.J. Houshmandzadeh 39 catches, 488 yards, five TDs; Johnson 40 catches, 483 yards, two TDs.

You go figure the Texans. I can't. Bunch of psychos. They're young enough and good enough to be a scary team, though. Watch that DeMeco Ryans at middle linebacker. He plays like a slimmer Ray Lewis.

The NFC East is like the NHL playoffs. Division games can be won by any team, at any venue, despite anything you might think about momentum.

"I am a marked man," Larry Johnson informs me. He's right. No other player in the NFL is as shadowed yet as well-used as Johnson right now. Over the last three weeks, his average game: 31 carries, 153 yards, two rushing touchdowns.

I can feel the tap on my shoulder already, from my boss at NBC, David Neal, wanting me to pursue the hot story of Sunday for our NFL pregame show. "Peter," Neal will say, "Get Brian Billick on the phone. Ask him how it feels to be compared to Vince Lombardi."

My buddy Adam Schefter is pushing Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz for the Arizona coaching job, with Denny Green being Dead Man Coaching. You've got the right region, Adam. Go about 550 miles north, though. Martz and Al Davis. Perfect together.

I'm not very big on point spreads, because I don't know anything factual about gambling on NFL games. But one of the strangest lines on a game I've seen in some time is Pittsburgh being a four-point pick over the Saints. The Steelers are 2-6 and have turned it over more in eight games than they did in 16 last year. The Saints are 6-2. Then again, if it's so strange, why am I picking the Steelers?

By the start of the fourth quarter, the chants of "Denny Must Go" are already fading away. They started in the first quarter.

Quarterback notes of the games: I was wrong about Seneca Wallace. He can back up my starting quarterback any day of the week. Smart, exciting player who should have a 15-year career in the right system. And apropos of nothing, did you know the two starting quarterbacks in Missouri, Damon Huard and Marc Bulger, have a combined touchdown-to-interception ratio of 24-to-2?

Here's the thing about the Bears. If they don't turn it over, they're going to the Super Bowl. Plain and simple. That gets drilled in Rex Grossman's head all week and the Bears begin the Amtrak Road Trip of the Year (at Giants, at Jets, at Pats) with a rock-solid defensive win.

Is Ina (The Barefoot Contessa) Garten on the Food Network Monday night? Her show would be more appetizing than this.