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Road-team trifecta Colts' firepower will overcome home-field advantage
CNNSI.com's B. Duane Cross talked with former NFL head coach and current CNN NFL Preview analyst Ron Meyer about several issues and storylines as teams prepare for wild-card weekend: Cross: Taking it from the top, Miami plays host to Indianapolis, which will be the third time these teams have played in 2000. This game will come down to the Dolphins' offense against the Colts' defense, right? Meyer: I think so. What jumps out at me is that Miami has the worst-rated offense (No. 26) among the 12 playoff teams. And if the Dolphins are going to have any success, Lamar Smith is going to have to run the ball at least 30 times, to keep the ball out of Jay Fiedler's hands -- and away from the Colts' offense. Indianapolis changed its secondary, moving Mustafah Muhammad into the starting lineup and bumping Tyrone Poole out, and that has made a big improvement. Muhammad has played really well. It was a gutsy move by the Colts' coaching staff. I think Indianapolis has too much offensive firepower, even though Miami has home-field advantage. I like the Colts in this one. Cross: St. Louis travels to New Orleans for the second week in a row. Meyer: The Rams are the team no one wanted to see in the playoffs. They have tremendous offensive weapons, and their defense is playing better than earlier in the season. I think the St. Louis defense is a lot like the K-Gun Bills of Jim Kelly. If the other team scored, it was like "Don't worry, we get the ball back." The Rams were lulled into that thinking with the offense they have. Now, I think the defense has awakened and knows it has to carry part of the load. For the Saints, I believe Aaron Brooks can handle the postseason pressure. He's mobile and can scramble out of trouble, should that occur. The biggest thing for the Saints is that the offensive line has to assert itself, establish the run game so that the play-action passing game can be a factor. Basically, the Saints have to slow the game down, go into a four-corners offense. Cross: In what could be the best game of the weekend, Denver travels to Baltimore in a matchup of the Broncos' offense against the Ravens' defense. Meyer: This game is a lot like the Colts-Dolphins game, but I think Baltimore's offense is more capable, with Jamal Lewis running the ball. The key for the Ravens is Trent Dilfer. He's struggled in his last two starts and if Baltimore is to win, he must get back to where he was a few weeks ago and not get the Ravens into trouble like last week against the Jets. Defense and special teams carried the day for Baltimore against New York. And Dilfer will be going against a Denver secondary that is dad last against the pass. But that statistic is deceiving; it means the Broncos have been ahead, or have shut down the opposition's run game. On offense for Denver, Brian Griese or Gus Frerotte are capable at quarterback. I don't think it matters to the Broncos who is back there. Still, I like the Ravens, at home with that defense -- if Dilfer doesn't get them into trouble. Cross: Tampa Bay travels to Philadelphia, where the weather forecast isn't conducive -- history-wise -- for the Buccaneers. Meyer: Tampa Bay is 0-19 when the temperature is 40 degrees or below. That streak won't reach 20. Philadelphia has basically one offensive weapon against a good Bucs defense. Donovan McNabb is a great ad-lib athlete, but the Eagles do not have any scoring punch, even with Chad Lewis at tight end. When the tight end is your best downfield weapon ... your chances of winning are greatly diminished. I think Philadelphia will try the underneath passing routes, but that's not going to work very well with Tampa Bay's John Lynch back there. I believe the Buccaneers have more weapons on offense, and the team that scores a defensive touchdown will win this game. It'll be the little mistakes -- considering the awful turf at Veterans Stadium -- that will make the difference in this game. As much as we talk about home-field advantage, I'm going with three road teams this weekend -- Colts, Rams and Buccaneers. Ron Meyer, a former NFL head coach, is a pro football analyst with CNN/Sports Illustrated and appears weekly on CNN's NFL Preview.
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