Final quarter

There are four games left in the NFL regular season. One quarter of football to go. Some teams have firmly established themselves as the top contenders once the tournament starts. Some are still battling to find their spot. Several of the divisions are pretty much settled (like the AFC East) but the fight for the wild-card spots among some good teams should make for an entertaining stretch run.

1. Green Bay (12-0): I'm rooting for the Pack to go 16-0. I'm hoping if they are the second team to accomplish that feat then Mr. Kraft will finally take down the perfect regular season banner hanging in the North end zone. Please take it down! As for the Packers... They look like a team ready to defend their title come playoff time. Rodgers is having an MVP season. And the defense is good enough.

2. San Francisco (10-2): The Niners have already clinched the NFC West. Not much of an accomplishment. But they are also in position to take the #2 seed behind Green Bay. That is an accomplishment for a team that self destructed time and time again last year. Jim Harbaugh is going to be coach of the year. His true coaching ability will be tested in about a month.

3. Baltimore Ravens (9-3): The question to ask in ranking the 9-3 teams is who can beat who. The Ravens have beaten the Steelers twice and if they were playing the Pats, Saints, or Texans in a playoff game they would be the pick of most people. They have lost a few games against bad teams (the Jags and the Seahawks) but when they are playing in a game with playoff intensity they have just that -- playoff intensity. Their pounding running game and pounding defense will make them very hard to beat.

4. New England Patriots (9-3): The mood of the Blabosphere seems to be that the Patriots are a paper contender. True, the only people the defense scares are the fans. But a team that has Brady, Welker, Gronk, Wilfork, Carter, Mankins, Hernandez, Mayo, Branch, BenJarvus, Ninko (just to name a few) is one tough team. And dangerous. The defense took a lot of heat in the one-and-done playoff losses the last two years. But it was the offense not clicking on all cylinders that really hurt. If the offense can get on a roll come January it's going to be a fun ride.

5. Pittsburgh Steelers (9-3): I know. The Steelers beat the Pats just a month ago. But in the playoffs the Pats have owned the Steelers time and time again. I don't think that will change if they should meet again. Even at Heinz. It still amazes me that a QB as Big as Ben can avoid pass rushers like he does. The two-time Super Bowl champ is great. And he has a great group of young receivers. All I want for Christmas is a Steelers-Pats AFC title game at Gillette.

6. New Orleans Saints (9-3): NFL analysts ask the same question week after week. Who can stop the Pack? The Saints. That's who. Drew Brees often gets left out of the Brady-Rodgers MVP debates but he shouldn't. The Saints stumbled as defending champs. Much like the Pats did in '02. We know what the Pats did the next two years. The Saints may be that team.

7. Houston Texans (9-3): Houston had the playoff door opened for them when Peyton Manning went down for the season. But then All Pro receiver Andre Johnson got hurt. Then RB Arian Foster went down. Just when they came back starting QB Matt Schaub was lost for the year. Then his backup Matt Leinert followed him to the IR. And yet the Texans keep winning. It's like the Texans know they will never get this good a shot to win their division again.

8. Detroit Lions (7-5): The talk of the early season is now the talk of the late season. But for very different reasons. The Lions started off 5-0, more than living up to preseason expectations. Those expectations were based on an aggressive defense but it was the Stafford-to-Johnson connection (two TDs per game) that was key to the fast start. The offense has cooled off and the defense has taken aggressiveness to the level of stupidity. Now all the talk is how out of control the Lions are.

9. New York Jets (7-5): There they sit. Gang Green. Mt. Ryan's boys. Once again battling just to make the playoffs after an off-season of predictions of how they were going to dominate the league. Once again dealing with inconsistencies from their quarterback and their coaching staff. Once again having me hoping that they don't make the playoffs for fear that once they get in they will do some damage -- in Foxborough.

10. Denver Broncos (7-5): What the hell are they doing on this list? Oops. Sorry Tim Tebow. I mean what the heck are they doing on this list? The Denver Tebows are the story of 2011. The team started off 1-4 with  Kyle Orton as their QB. He is no longer their QB. Rookie Tim Tebow took his place and has ran (and sometimes passed) his way into the hearts of Denver fans.

11. Dallas Cowboys (7-5): The 'Boys have had one of the craziest regular seasons I have seen in a long time. The have blown games that they should have won to the Jets, the Lions, the Pats, and most painfully, the Cards last week. Dallas could easily be 9-3. But they're not. That must be driving Jerry Jones crazy. The Cowboys will be tough to beat in the playoffs if they can stop beating themselves.

12. Atlanta Falcons (7-5): There are a total of eight teams with a 7-5 record. They are all good teams. Not great. The best five are listed here. (The other three -- Oakland, Tennessee, Chicago -- are not far behind when healthy.) I give Atlanta the nod over them because they have a good balance of offense and defense. And they went 14-2 last year.

Dishonorable mention: I could put the 0-12 Colts here again. But I'm going to take it easy on Indy fans. This quarter the honor goes to the New York Football Giants. I know, they are 6-6 and a pretty good team. And they have had a brutal schedule. But since they pulled off another last second comeback to beat the Pats at Gillette a month ago to go to 6-2 they have lost every game. They might not even make the playoffs. They were talking like champs when they left Foxborough. Way to build on that momentum.

The season of giving

There's been a lot of debate about how the Pats should play the "meaningless" game this weekend against Houston. Should they play their starters just a series or two? Should they play all out to get the #3 seed? Should Brady play at all? No matter what your opinion, the fact is that Belichick will do what he and the team thinks is best and whatever happens happens. My guess is they will go for the win. That's what they do. And that's the way I like my team to approach it.

The other approach was on display in Indianapolis on Sunday. The 14-0 Colts had a 15-10 lead over the Jets with about nine minutes to go in the third quarter. Another touchdown and they were in control of the game and just one road win in Buffalo from matching the Pats' 16-0 season from two years ago. And then something weird happened. The Colts took out Manning, Dallas Clark, and other starters and pretty much gift wrapped the game for the Jets. And the Jets gladly accepted the present. I watched it at my parent's house with my sister, brothers, and nephews after we got home from the Pats game. We were all surprised. And disgusted. Who gives up on the chance for a perfect season? The Colts. That's who. Just when I was starting to almost like that team they go and remind me why it's so fun not to.

The Colts' company line was that the decision to rest their starters was part of an "organizational philosophy." I guess that philosophy goes something like this ... We are on a historic 23-game regular season unbeaten streak. We are a veteran team that has been one of the top two all decade and can handle the pressure. We have won some amazing comebacks this season to keep the unbeaten record going. Our players put everything they have into getting to this point. We are on the verge of history. We're not interested. We'd rather lose, break our momentum, let the Jets beat us on our home field, and start resting for a playoff game that is almost a month away.

That's a hell of a philosophy. And from the look on Manning's face he wasn't buying into it. If they lose to the Bills this weekend then a 14-2 team will sit waiting for two weeks for the playoffs to start with a rather sour taste in their mouths. It didn't work the other times the Colts took that approach in this decade. Good luck to them this time around.

If they wanted to rest their stars and/or avoid injuries then why play them at all? You can't get hurt in the first half? Oh yes you can. Just ask Tom Brady. The fact that Manning and the other Colts played the first half and held the lead only to come out of the game sure leaves one to believe that it was more a case of "we really don't want the pressure of being unbeaten" than a desire to rest for a game a month away. Well, mission accomplished. The pressure's over. So is the unbeaten streak and a good chunk of the momentum Manning and the rest of the team busted their humps building.

If they were playing the 3-12 Bucs or the 4-11 Browns it would be slightly -- slightly -- different. It would still be lame to give up on an undefeated season but at least you wouldn't be changing the playoff chances of other teams. The Jets are in the playoff hunt. With the win they went from needing help to controlling their own destiny. Win and they are in. The Broncos, Steelers, Texans, and Dolphins all got the short end of the Colts stick. Teams playing dead against teams fighting for a playoff spot isn't good for the league. It's bad sportsmanship to say the least. It's something the NFL should look at before they expand the season to a ridiculous 18 games. Preseason games are meaningless? Well apparently so are December games if you ask the Colts.

There are two people (or groups of people in one case) that I really felt bad for watching the Colts Sunday. The first was center Jeff Saturday. While Manning, Wayne, Freeney, and others stood on the sideline watching the "philosophy" play out, Saturday was where he always is every week. Right in the middle of the war. Saturday is as key a player as the Colts have had all decade. He is their anchor. And yet there he was on the field in a game that the team's most important players were resting. Uh, you might want to rest your All-Pro center too. The fans were the other ones I felt bad for. Especially those that paid to be at the game. You think you are there to watch your beloved team take another step towards history only to watch the team say "we give." The fans were booing their 14-1 Super Bowl favorite Colts. Booing them. Yup. That's a good way to get ready for the playoffs.

But that's the way the Colts like to do things. Safely. The Pats really are their opposite. I expect most of the starters to play this weekend. Not guys with injuries like Wilfork or Warren. And of course everyone has injuries at this point. But I would think Brady would want to play. The team hasn't exactly set the league on fire so far. There's plenty they still need to improve on.