Indianapolis Colts at the Miami Dolphins Can the Colts handle the Miami heat? This question will be answered on the field in this Sunday’s game against a stingy Miami defense. Last year the Dolphins held Peyton Manning and their explosive offense in check. They won 21-13. This is a more focused and balanced Colts team this year, which continues to show heart and play aggressive defense. The Dolphin’s defense is very much improved from last year, but can be exploited with Manning’s audible playcalling. The tight ends could end up deciding the outcome of this game. Both teams’ secondary have been playing great all year and always seem to play its best in big games. I look for the Dolphins to double-team Marvin Harrison, but somehow he will still continue to put up big numbers. I also think the Dolphins key to victory would be to run Ricky Williams. We all saw three weeks ago that the Colts are vulnerable against the run; they gave up over 130 yards rushing to the Panthers. I think the Dolphins will dominate the first half of this game by running Williams and intercepting passes from Manning several times. I see the second half belonging to the Colts. It always seem that Miami loves to give away a for sure win in the second half of their home games this season? Just ask the Texans and the Patriots. The trend continues! Prediction:Colts 20 Dolphins 17

New England Patriots at the Denver Broncos Before the season started, this Monday night game had the making of a heavyweight bout, with Jake Plummer versus Tom Brady. Now with the injury to Plummer, it has turned into Danny Kanell versus Brady. The journeyman Kanell gets another shot at proving he belongs in this league. Kanell will have all the support he can get from those feisty Bronco fans. The Broncos need to win this game if they want to have any chance of competing for the division lead. Kanell must show that he has enough poise to stand in the pocket against Belichick’s blitzes. He must also be able to read Belichick’s defensive schemes. Belichick will try to throw in multiple blitz packages to confuse Kanell. I am sure Kanell has faced many blitzes from other teams, but none like what the Patriots will have in store. I think Brady will have a field day against a very mediocre Denver secondary. I don’t think Clinton Portis can win this game all by himself. Prediction: Patriots 24 Broncos 13