View From the Sideline

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Catch Lance Zierlein from 6 to 10 am daily,alongside John Granato. Listen to John Harris onthe Sean and John show, with Sean Pendergastshow 3 to 7 PM daily. www.1560thegame.com

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How we got HERE...well, Indianapolis, actually

Packers vs. Cowboys in the 1960s. Steelers vs. Raiders in the 1970s. AlDavis vs. the NFL in the 1980s. Cowboys vs. Niners in the 1990s. Therivalries through the years in the NFL have captivated fans thousands of times over. The Patriots vs. Colts in the 2000s ranks right up in thatmix above given all that has transpired since 2003. This weekend, yetagain, these two organizations battle in Indy with AFC honors on theline.

NFL SECTION BY

LANCE ZIERLEIN

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WEEK 10

The Patriots offense sputtered early inthe year and the concerns over TomBrady's sporadic play was certainly warranted, but the Patriots offenseappears to be getting back on track.

The Colts are still undefeated but they didn't look very good against the Texans and they really haven't played a very tough schedule up to this point.

Can the Colts elevate their game hereto take on a Patriots team who lookslike it is heating up?

Indianapolis' offensive line has hadsome issues protecting Manning againstsome of the top 3

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4 defenses in the pastand we might see some of the sameproblems this week as this is as weak as I've seen theirpass protection look in many years. If the Colts could rely on their running game, that would be one thing, buttheir running game isn't consistent andthe Patriots defensive front will be toomuch for the Colts to handle on the ground.

The Colts have had injuries in thesecondary which is a bad, bad thing inthis spot since Brady will find the weakest link and exploit it over andover again. The Colts have been a moreconsistent defensive unit this year andthey have the pass rushers that cancause the Patriots trouble but if thePats block it up effectively, I don't thinktheir secondary can withstand the Pats passing game.When you look at the Steelers seasonso far, it is actually much moreimpressive than what we saw fromthem last year when they won theSuper Bowl. In both of the Steelerslosses to the Bears and the Bengals,they did more to lose those games thanthe other teams winning them. TheBengals have played enough games to where we know that they are legit onboth sides of the ball but can they takeout the Ravens and Steelers twice?

The key to the Steelers resurgence hasbeen the inclusion of RashardMendenhall into the starting lineup.

While the offensive line has opened up more holes, there were holes before that weren't being hit by Willie Parker.Mendenhall has helped to give the Steelers more balanceon offense and Ben Roethlisberger'sability to utilize all of his targets willput pressure on the Bengals. TheBengals defense has been steady theentire year so don't look for the Steelersto go up and down the field.

The Bengals are obviously better withQB Palmer back, but Ced Benson hasbeen the story for the Bengals.

Benson has had good games against theRavens twice and against the Steelersthe last time out and if the Bengals want to win in Pittsburgh, they haveto

have another good game by Bensonand win the turnover battler. If theSteelers can shut down the running game, the Bengalsoffensive line will have a tough time keeping Palmerupright.

Fantasy Report

The Colts defense has someholes right now and I expect

Randy Moss

,

Tom Brady

and even

LaurenceMaroney

to exploit thoseholes.

On the other side of the ball, I think Manning couldend up having some troubleagainst the Patriots 3-4 frontso I wouldn't expect as muchfrom

Peyton Manning

oreven

Reggie Wayne

in thisspot.

PREDICTION: PITTSBURGH

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24 VS. CINCINNATI

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16PREDICTION: NEW ENGLAND

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24 VS. INDIANAPOLIS

-

20

CINCINNATI

(

6

-

2

)

VS. PITTSBURGH

(

6

-

2

)

VEGAS SAYS: PIT

-

7 / 41.5

Fantasy Report

The Bengals defense isn't apush-over anymore

by anystretch, but either is therunning game for the Steelerswith

Rashard Mendenhall

.

He gets a start here along with

Hines Ward

but

SantonioHolmes

only gets an averagestart rating.

Ced Benson

has been good

in three

gamesagainst the Ravens and Steelersso far, but not here.

November 15, 2009 CBS 12 PM CST November 15, 2009 NBC 7:20 PM CST

NEW ENGLAND

(

6

-

2

)

VS. INDIANAPOLIS

(

8

-

0

)

VEGAS SAYS: IND

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3 / 50

Chicago at San Francisco

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The Bears defense hasbasically quit in two of their last three games and it willbe interesting to see which Bears team shows up againsta 49er team who is desperate for a win after the mostdifficult stretch of their schedule. I have to stick with a Niners team who I feel like will give the most consistenteffort

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Bears

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20 vs. Niners

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23

Denver at Washington

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The Broncos have lost a couple in a row but don't count them out just yet.

TheRedskins are a mess and show no signs of coming around and their offense doesn't figure to do to theBroncos what the Steelers were able to do in the secondhalf. The Broncos have veteran leadership and theRedskins don't

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Broncos

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21 vs. Redskins

-

16

Buffalo at Tennessee

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The last two weeks I've hadthe Titan winning regardless of who the QB was going to be because their defense is still good enough to causeproblems and they still have the most dangerous RB inthe game in Chris Johnson. The Bills rush defense isterrible which gives them very little chance here

-

Bills

-

10

vs. Titans

-

28

New Orleans at St. Louis

-

The Saints have foundthemselves in tough spots against the Dolphins andPanthers so maybe they are due for a loss. It won'thappen here, but I am interested to see how Steven Jackson and the running game does against the Saints inthis spot

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Saints

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38 vs. Rams

-

17

Jacksonville at NY Jets

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The Jaguars ‘O’ is moreexplosive than some would expect thanks to the teaming of WR Sims

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Walker with MJD and the Jags have enoughon both sides of the ball to give the inconsistent Jetsteam all they want in this one. If the Jags can find a way to slow down the Jets running game, they have a greatshot at winning this one

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Jaguars

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19 vs. Jets

-

17

Detroit at Minnesota

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QB Stafford's 5 INTS buriedthe Lions last week and their inability to stop the run will bury them this week, but it will be interesting to seeif if Stafford and Calvin Johnson can get on the samepage against the Vikings in order to keep this onerelatively close

-

Lions

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21 vs. Vikings

-

31

Tampa Bay at Miami

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Tampa scratched and clawedtheir way to a home win against the Packers thanks to a gritty effort from first time starter, QB Freeman anddefensive/special teams TDs. The Dolphins are a physical group that will dominate the Bucs on both sidesof the ball and give Freeman a proper introduction intothe NFL

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Bucs

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6 vs. Dolphins

-

27

Atlanta at Carolina

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The Panthers were in greatshape to beat the Saints last week but they simply don'thave enough through the air to win those types of shootouts.

On the other hand, the Falcons have anexplosive offensive unit, but I don't think they are a team who has enough on defense to keep from getting dominated by the Panthers rushing attack

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Falcons

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24 vs. Panthers

-

27

Kansas City at Oakland

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Both teams are poor butthe Chiefs took care of the Raiders last time and this isone of those games that the Raiders have to havecircled. The Raiders offense has been atrocious, butthey did have a nice win over Philly a few weeks back so we'll give them another shot here

-

Chiefs

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21 vs. Raiders

-

24

(

Overtime

)

Philadelphia at San Diego

-

The Chargers clawedtheir way to a much

-

needed win vs. the Giants last weekand now they get to ride that momentum against anEagles team is that has to travel West. The Eagles seemtoo reliant on DeSean Jackson's big plays while theChargers are starting to see OLB Merriman get after theQB again. Good spot for the Chargers

-

Eagles

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20 vs.Chargers

-

24

Dallas at Green Bay

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The Packers are in a desperatesituation as they are staring a 4

-

5 record in the face if they lose. The Cowboys have quietly snuck under theradar thanks to big plays on offense and improved play from the secondary and the pass rush.

The Packers 4

-

wide sets will test the Cowboys IF the Packers canprotect QB Rodgers

-

Cowboys

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21 vs. Packers

-

23

Seattle at Arizona

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The Cardinals made a statementlast week at Soldier Field that they were the best teamin their division and if Kurt Warner continues to play like he did last week, then that is the truth. TheSeahawks will test the inconsistent Cardinals secondary,but the Cardinals have too much offense for theSeahawks to catch

-

Seahawks

-

24 vs. Cardinals

-

28

Baltimore at Cleveland

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Is this where I'm supposedto finally give the Browns a shot at winning? Sure, they beat the Eagles in an MNF matchup last year that they weren't supposed to win, but the Browns have quit andthe Ravens are desperate to stay in the AFC Northhunt. Look for a monster game from Ray Rice

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Ravens

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26 vs. Browns

-

14

PREDICTIONS ON ALL NFL GAMES THIS WEEKEND