John Madden

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET

Philadelphia @ N.Y. Giants
Tom Coughlin is the perfect coach for dealing with the type of distractions that are surrounding his team right now. No matter what happens you have to go on and you have to forget about the bad things when they happen. This isn't easy. These are very difficult times for the Giants, very difficult times for the NFL and to say they are not going to miss Plaxico Burress is wrong. And then what happens to Antonio Pierce I am not sure, so there is unrest. If there is a team that has the strength, the inner strength and those things to overcome it and a coach to lead them to it I think it's the Giants and Coughlin. I am not talking about the playoffs, I am talking about these next few weeks there is some tough football coming up and this one with the Eagles isn't going to be an easy one. It is always a tough one.

We did the first meeting between these two teams this season and you talk about a war, there was some real hitting in that game and I would expect more of the same this week. Usually these games go right down to the end, right down to the fourth quarter and I kind of expect this one to be the same. The Giants are in so much better position because they have a better cushion so it may not have quite the same intensity that it had earlier, but I think it will be close.

Atlanta @ New Orleans
The Falcons have the ingredients to make a playoff run and it shows that today's football has the parity and all those things. The Atlanta Falcons got the coach and rookie quarterback, who has exceeded all expectations by double or triple, and they get the running back in Michael Turner and that's pretty doggone good. That is a good start and then that will make your offensive line play better. You get a great running back, running hard, doing the things he does, the offensive line will be a lot better then you get a guy like Matt Ryan. Because your defense gets more rest they are going to be better and the whole thing kind of snowballs on you and that put Atlanta in this position to make a run and they look to me like a legitimate NFC playoff team. 

The Falcons defense knows what Drew Brees does and they are going to have to get the pass rush and the coverage and those kinds of things and Drew Brees has big numbers, but the Saints are very beatable and I think that's the way the Falcons have to play them. Brees is going to complete a lot of passes, but that doesn't mean the Falcons have to lose.

Sunday, 4:15 p.m. ET

Dallas @ Pittsburgh
This is going to be a tough thing for the Dallas offense this week. The Steelers defense will not make it easy on them. Some people say it's Dick LeBeau's defense and it is, but doggone, they have good players. Woodley has come along on the outside now, Harrison on the other side, those two inside linebackers are playing well and they are blitzing a lot more inside. These guys have good players and I think sometimes we give too much credit to the scheme and design, which deserves it but in doing so we forget all these players are playing at a very high level. They all come hard and they all tackle well. You say all teams do that and bring that but they don't all do that. They don't all come at a runner and receiver and run right through them. I don't think there is anyone else that does that as well as the Steelers defense. 

The thing that you have to do against the Steelers defense is pass when they expect run and run when they expect pass. They will gang up on you. On first down they will play an 8-man front. They will stunt those two inside backers and to me that is the easiest passing you are going to have. First down passing with play action. You are not going to do that every first down, but mix that in. Mix in some second and short play action and on third down is when you get those exotic defenses. Those two-man line, one-man line, seven defensive backs, eight defensive backs and once in a while you have to run against that. I would say if Marion Barber is healthy and he can play, and again this is all relative, but if he can play I would save his heavy duty running for the third and fourth quarter. I wouldn't come out and start banging him in there early.

I think the big thing for the Steelers offense is when they can run the ball and play action pass and Ben Roethlisberger can get rid of the ball quickly. When they get in trouble, and the offensive line took a lot of heat for this is when they get in long yardage passing situations, Ben tries to keep plays alive and he keeps looking down field. He keeps moving, moving, moving waiting and that's part of Ben Roethlisberger and that's part of what makes him great too. When you look at those stats and they give up a lot of sacks and things and it is the offensive line, but sometimes it's a tight end that doesn't make a block or it's a running back that doesn't make a block or a lot of times it is just Ben holding the ball too doggone long.

If you ask where the Cowboys are right now, this is the big test for them. They play the Steelers this weekend and the Giants next weekend. If they are really a legitimate playoff/championship type team they are going to win those two games. If those two games are too big for them then they don't belong in the playoffs. They have that thing where they got off to a good start and then they laid down a little then Tony Romo gets hurt and now they have to make that run. This is the test. I would think they are in a good position to do it. These two teams, the Steelers and the Giants, aren't going to roll over for them. They are going to fight them. In order for the Cowboys to win these two games they have to play tough football and I don't know that they have done too much of that this year.

Sunday, 8:15 p.m. ET

Washington @ Baltimore
This is what December football is all about. I have always said you get yourself in position from the start of the season to Thanksgiving to make a run in December and then you make your run in December and hope at the end of the season you are peaking as you go into the playoffs. And this is a position right now that both the Redskins and the Ravens are in. They have put themselves in a position to make a run for the playoffs and now they have four more games in December to make that run and this is when football and the NFL is at its greatest.

When you get into December no one is 100 percent so you hope that Clinton Portis can play and be effective and if he can it's going to be a battle and it's not going to be all about him. Your passing game has to work. Jason Campbell has to make some passes to loosen up that defense and make the defense play both pass and run because the Ravens are so good on defense that they can make you one dimensional. So part of it is Clinton Portis has to do his part if he is healthy and then to balance it out they have to be able to throw the ball. 

With any defense you start with the defensive line and the interior. If you can't get that push against the interior of the defense then it is hard to run and then you go to the next level led by Ray Lewis. You get by that first level and get a little push then you have to deal with those linebackers and if you get by that then you have a strong third level in Ed Reed. There is no weakness at any of the levels. I know it's easy to say Baltimore Ravens defense and Ray Lewis and that's a big part of it, but they have all the other parts to go with it too.

I have seen Joe Flacco a few times and there is nothing about him that looks like a rookie. This isn't your father's Baltimore Ravens. This is a team that can throw the ball now. Joe Flacco has gotten past that thing that he is a rookie. I don't even consider him a rookie any more and he has the receivers. It is not just we're going to run the ball and play defense, not with this Raven team, not with Joe Flacco. This team is as good throwing the ball as they are running it. 

This Redskins defense is banged up right now and with mixture and where the Ravens are right now, I think they will be able to throw and run against this defense.

Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET

Tampa Bay @ Carolina
The great thing about this time of year is to make the playoffs you have to earn it. There is no vote here. If you are going to be in the playoffs you earn it and you earn the right to be in the playoffs by winning and I love to see these kinds of games. There is no coaches poll to tell who is better Carolina or Tampa Bay, it doesn't matter. We are going to see because they are going to go play. The whole thing is very, very good football.

Jake Delhomme is the kind of guy who has a short memory and he is a very determined guy and what happened before in Tampa isn't going to happen to him again. Something else may happen. I am not saying he is going to go out and win the game, but I guarantee you the way it happened the last time, he is smart enough, determined enough, works hard enough that the same thing that worked against him won't be the same thing again.

This Tampa defense is a good defense and you are not going to make a living running the ball against them, they will take things away. If you start to run and have success with the run, Monte Kiffin and his defense will make adjustments. Just to keep their defense balanced you have to keep your offense relatively balanced.