NFL Week 14

-Both the Colts and the Saints keep their quest for an undefeated season alive. As the dust settles from Sunday's action, the NFL has two teams at 13-0. The question becomes: could both go the distance? Almost more importantly, does it really matter?

While only two teams in the history of the NFL have gone undefeated, is that distinction worth harming your team's playoffs chances, even remotely? Everyone remembers the 18-1 2007 Patriots...

History suggests that the Colts, who locked up home field advantage throughout the playoffs by beating the Broncos, will start resting key personnel (read Peyton Manning, in particular) in their final three games at the Jaguars and Bills, and at home to the Jets.

For the Saints, who are not used to this type of league dominance, it is an entirely different proposition. Not only would an undefeated season probably mean a lot more to them, they also could still be caught by the Vikings who are two games behind them in the race for home-field advantage. The Saints won't be relishing a tough possible NFC title game against Minnesota regardless, but having to travel up north, to play in the dome, with the Vikings' rabid support; forget about it. Trust me, that is Sean Payton's number 1 priority right now, not resting players. And if it's not, it should be.

So even though the Colts have extended their win streak far more comfortably than the Saints the last few weeks, I think New Orleans is far more likely to end the year without a big fat zero in its loss column.

-Speaking of the Saints, can we please give some props to someone who doesn't play offense for New Orleans ? Jonathan Vilma, the former NFL rookie of the year, was traded from the Jets when the brilliant coaching mind of Eric Mangini decided he wouldn't fit his scheme.

Two years on and Vilma is the leader of a Saints defensive unit that has transformed from a weakness to a strength for New Orleans.

On Sunday, Vilma made two fantastic defensive plays to keep the Saints undefeated. First dropping back in coverage to pick off a Chris Redman pass, and then bailing out the offense again after they went for it and didn't convert on fourth down.

With just over a minute left, and the Falcons driving for the tying field goal, on fourth-and-two, Vilma sniffed out the underneath pass to Jason Snelling, came up and laid the perfect hit on him, stopping him short of a first down and effectively ending the game. An undisputed victory for all fans everywhere who hate the prevent defenses NFL teams too often employ at the end of games.

-At what point does a losing streak start to weigh on the minds of sports' team? How about right now if you're the Dallas Cowboys? All week the Cowboys have been handling questions about their terrible record in December (Following Sunday's loss to the Chargers, they are 18-33 after December 1 since 1996, and 5-10 with Tony Romo under center).

Sunday, they had the perfect opportunity to prove to everyone that they can win in the NFL's crunch month by beating the red-hot Chargers at home in new Cowboys Stadium, where they had won all but one of their games this season.

The thing is they didn't play badly. They didn't turn the ball over, established the run, and Romo passed for 239 yards. However there were two sequences killed the Cowboys chances. First, they failed to convert a 1st-and-goal from the Chargers' 4 at the end of the second quarter. Marion Barber was stuffed four times by the Chargers front seven and Dallas turned it over on downs. Second, the Cowboys couldn't get the Chargers offense off the field in the fourth quarter, as Philip Rivers and co. produced a fabulous 15-play, 73-yard drive that ate up over 7 minutes of clock. The drive ended with a Nate Kaeding field goal that put San Diego up 20-10, an insurmountable lead with under two minutes left.

As if to put an exclamation point on a miserable afternoon for the Cowboys, their best defensive player and pass rusher, DeMarcus Ware, was carted off the field with what looked like a serious head injury in the second half.

None of Dallas' final three games (away to the Saints and Redskins and at home to the Eagles) look easy, meaning that they're going to have to break out of this losing streak the hard way. They certainly have the personnel and talent to do it, but if they let all the talk of the streak get to them mentally, they could be in for another torrid December...

-It was strength against strength as the Bengals running game took on the Minnesota run defense; and the Vikings won. Sure, Benson got 97 yards of rushing on Sunday, but that production was inflated by the 42 yards that came on one rush. Apart from that run, the Vikings held one of the best backs in the league (who would have thought anyone would ever say that about Benson after his 2008 troubles) to 3.6 yards a carry.

Unable to really establish the ground game, the Bengals were forced into a number of long passing situations where they were clearly uncomfortable. Palmer threw for only 94 yards on 15 completions, and didn't get a chance to throw the deep ball all day as he was under constant pressure from the Vikings defensive line.

Unless the Bengals can pass the ball better when the playoffs roll around (and clean up all those penalties, by the way), I don't see them being a major force to be reckoned with in January.

-Sure, Chad Ochocinco gets a lot of attention and publicity for his boisterous and talkative personality, but it also earns him to some huge hits, like the one he took from corner Antoine Winfield on Sunday. Afterward, he was clearly in a lot of pain on the sideline, with a swollen nose, and didn't catch another ball for the rest of the game.

Credit to Chad though, the man is true to himself. No matter how many hits he's taken to it over the years, he isn't about to shut that mouth of his. As he would say, “Child, please!”

-All three of the rookie first-round quarterbacks have had their moments this year, but ultimately they have furnished more proof as to how difficult it is to transition from the college to the pro game for quarterbacks. Mark Sanchez looked like a stud for the first three games of the season, Matthew Stafford had that last-second fourth quarter comeback against the Browns, and Josh Freeman led the Buccaneers to their first win in his first NFL start.

But with both Sanchez and Stafford out nursing injuries on Sunday, it was Freeman's turn to have his first really bad game: he completed only 43% of his passes for 93 yards and threw three interceptions against the Jets.

Last year Matt Ryan, and Joe Flacco surprised everyone by performing so well right out of the gate after being drafted 3rd and 18th overall respectively. But even those two haven't been immune from the dreaded sophomore slump this season.

Sitting your young QB and giving him time to learn the system and get to grips with NFL-quality defenses is looking like a better and better strategy (see Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo, Vince Young, Chad Henne, and even Kevin Kolb).

Of course to do that, you need the luxury of time, which most teams drafting a QB high in the first round don't.

-Eagles top Giants in a nail-biting shootout. At one point in the third quarter, after Eli Manning and Donovan McNabb had traded 60-yard touchdown passes on back-to-back plays, you had to wonder if either team had any interest in playing defense.

The purists would tut and shake their heads at the Eagles secondary's atrocious open-field tackling, or the Giants numerous blown coverages, but at some point, in games like this, you just have to sit back and enjoy the show.

Philly wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who missed last week's game with a concussion by the way, might just be the most explosive playmaker in the NFL, and he made a strong case again, scoring on a 72 yard punt return and a 60-yard reception.

The Giants hit back with a couple of long touchdowns of their own with both Hakeem Nicks and Domenik Hixon evading tacklers for TD receptions of 68 yards and 61 yards respectively.

Not the style of game you would traditionally associate with a NFC East divisional match-up, but the Eagles won't mind. With their third consecutive win, they leapfrog Dallas to first place in the division and have gotten hot at exactly the right time.