Unless you’re a Colts or Vikings fan, when you watch the Saints play, it makes you realize how bad your team actually is.

The Saints carved up the Patriots on Monday night like a Ginsu knife slicing through warm butter. They racked up 480 yards of total offense, 367 passing yards and scored five touchdowns in route to a 38-17 blow out victory. The soon-to-be MVP award winner Drew Brees completed 18 of his 23 passing attempts for 371 yards and five touchdowns.

What’s ironic about Monday night’s game is that the Patriots must have thought they were looking in the mirror watching the Saints stroll up and down the field on them for four quarters. It was just three years ago that New England was humiliating opponents with the greatest of ease and compiling a perfect 16-0 regular season record.

In 2007, nobody thought the Patriots would lose and now I have a hard time believing anyone will knock off this Saints team. Sean Payton’s playcalling is impeccable, Brees is playing like a man possessed and the defense is incredibly opportunistic. New England was supposed to serve as the biggest test of the year for New Orleans and the game wasn’t even close outside of a 7-3 score in the first quarter (that was the first and only time the Patriots led).

The Saints wrap up the season with road trips Washington, Atlanta and Carolina, as well as home games against Dallas and Tampa Bay. With Chris Redman now under center for the Falcons, the only real threat to the Saints’ march to perfection is the Cowboys and New Orleans will play them in the Superdome, where they’re practically unbeatable.

Considering Minnesota is breathing down their necks for the top spot in the NFC, the Saints still have plenty to play for, which means we could be seeing the second 16-0 team in only three years.

For all intents and purposes, Dennis Dixon only made one mistake on Sunday night but unfortunately for him and the Steelers, that one mistake cost them a potential victory.

Dixon’s interception in overtime set the table for the Ravens to kick a game-winning field goal in a 20-17 victory. The win helped Baltimore improve to 6-5 on the season and kept its playoff hopes alive, while Pittsburgh fell to 6-5 and has now lost three in a row.

Dixon, a third stringer making his first career start, gave the Steelers a chance to win in the second half when he broke off a 24-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. He also threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes in the second quarter and had a 31-yard run called back due to a holding call.

But on the possession following his fourth quarter touchdown run, the Ravens converted on a 4th and 5 from their own 46-yard line when Joe Flacco hit Ray Rice on a 44-yard completion. The drive ended in a field goal, which potentially forced overtime with the score tied 7-7.

Take away Dixon’s interception and the Steelers’ offense played pretty good – ultra conservative, but good. It was Pittsburgh’s defense that yielded several big plays, including Rice’s fourth down reception and a 54-yard reception by Mark Clayton late in the second half that set up a 10-yard Derrick Mason touchdown. If the Steelers had limited the big plays, Dixon’s effort would have been enough.

Pittsburgh needs a healthy Troy Polamalu back in the lineup if it has any chance of making another run at a Super Bowl, nevertheless the playoffs. Without him, Pittsburgh’s defense is good but certainly not great, which has been evident the past couple weeks.

Seven weeks ago, the Titans resembled a rotting carcass on the side of the road. At that time, they had just been run over (might as well stick with the road kill them) by the Patriots in a 59-0 rout and fans wanted Jeff Fisher’s head on a stake.

Then Fisher made the decision to bench the highly ineffective Kerry Collins and replace him with Vince Young, who had gone from franchise quarterback to draft blunder in a matter of a season. What happened next was shocking, as Young led the Titans beat the Jaguars after the team’s bye week, then the 49ers, then the Bills, and then the Texans on Monday night.

On Sunday, Young orchestrated an 18 play, 99-yard scoring drive with just under three minutes remaining to lift Tennessee to a 20-17 win over the Matt Leinart-led Cardinals. The drive was capped off by a 4th and 10 play in which Young hit rookie Kenny Britt in the back of the end zone for the game-winning score. Both the game-winning catch and the game-winning drive were remarkable, just like the Titans’ latest five-game winning streak.

At 5-6, the Titans are very much still on the outside looking in when it comes to the postseason. They’re currently behind the Steelers, Ravens (depending on the outcome of tonight’s game), Jaguars and Broncos in the Wild Card hunt, and are tied with the Dolphins, Jets and Texans.

But what if they ran the table? Outside of games against the undefeated Colts and the surging Chargers, they have winnable games against the Rams, Dolphins and Seahawks in the final month of the season. Wins over Indy and San Diego seem unlikely for the Titans, but so did their five-game winning streak after their disastrous start. Young has the hot hand, Chris Johnson (who finished with 154 rushing yards and also had an 84 yard TD scamper) is a touchdown waiting to happen on every play and they’re defense is playing better than it did earlier in the year – what’s stopping them from making a run?

If they lose to the Colts next week, then the Titans’ slim playoff hopes will likely vanish. But winning is contagious and if they can beat Indy next week, there’s no reason to write Tennessee off.

If Brett Favre is wearing down, then he has everybody fooled because the guy is playing like a freaking maniac.

Favre completed 32-of-48 passes for 392 yards with three touchdowns and no inceptions in the Vikings’ 36-10 win over the Bears in Week 12. Minnesota attacked Chicago repeatedly through the air, throwing the ball 31 times to just 12 rushes in the first half. When the dust settled, the Vikings had a 24-7 halftime lead and the game was never in doubt from that point forward.

Minnesota is now 10-1 and will be rooting hard for New England to beat New Orleans on Monday night. The Vikes have the inside track on a first round bye, but they’ll have their eye on earning the top seed in the playoffs entering the final month of the season.

As for the Bears, their disastrous season continues. All of their defensive problems were on full display today as Favre and the Vikings went up and down the field with the greatest of ease. Chicago was out gained in first downs (31 to eight) and total yardage (537 to 169).

It was the same story today as it has been all season: They were outplayed in the trenches, they couldn’t run the ball and Jay Cutler turned the ball over multiple times. Nothing has changed about this team in over a month.

The Eagles kept their playoff aspirations very much alive with a 27-24 win over the Redskins in Week 12, but they were also fortunate that Juqua Parker wasn’t flagged for a 15-yard personal foul in the game’s waning moments.

Trailing 27-24 with less than two minutes remaining, the Redskins faced a 4th and 1 at their own 25-yard line. On the play, Jason Campbell threw an incomplete pass but was slammed to the ground by Parker, who could have easily been flagged (defenders have certainly be flagged for less this season). Instead of having a chance to continue their drive and possibly get into field goal range to tie the game, the Redskins lost the ball on a change of possession and the Eagles held on for the win.

Granted, there’s no guarantee that the Redskins would have gotten into field goal range even if a flag were thrown. Plus, if Washington didn’t get so conservative early in the fourth quarter when they had a 21-16 lead, then the Skins would have never been in that position to have to come back in the first place.

But I digress.

For the Eagles, this win allows them to stay in playoff contention in the NFC. Donovan McNabb completed 21-of-35 passes for 260 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also threw a two-point conversion on a shovel pass to LeSean McCoy and overcame multiple drops by tight end Brent Celek.

On the injury front for Philadelphia, receiver DeSean Jackson suffered a concussion after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit by London Fletcher. The injury doesn’t appear to be too serious, but the Eagles will certainly take plenty of precaution with Jackson given Brian Westbrook’s history of concussions.

It didn’t take long for Larry Johnson to make an impact for the Bengals.

Just two weeks after Cincinnati signed the troubled running back, Johnson rushed for 107 yards on 22 carries to help the Bengals beat the Browns 16-7 in Week 12.

Johnson started by splitting carries with Bernard Scott, but after rushing for 42 yards on his first four carries, Marvin Lewis gave him more opportunities throughout the game. Then after Scott was injured in the third quarter, Johnson took over as the team’s primary back and helped the Bengals earn an unimpressive win.

Johnson won’t unseat Cedric Benson as Cincinnati’s top back, but it never hurts when a contender has two capable runners come playoff time. KC fans will want to throw up when they read this, but LJ gave his best effort of the year, which is huge given Benson’s injury.

With this win, the Bengals completed a season sweep of the entire AFC North and at 8-3, Cincy is right in contention for a first round bye.

There are moments every NFL season that could be deemed as defining for playoff contenders.

The Falcons had one of those moments in Week 12.

Atlanta lost Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and two starting offensive linemen on Sunday, but found a way to come from behind in the closing minutes to knock off division rival Tampa Bay, 20-17. Chris Redman completed 23-of-41 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns while subbing for Ryan (who hurt his foot early in the first quarter and never returned), and also found Roddy White on a 4th and goal from the 5-yard line to lift Atlanta to victory.

Outside of two separate 18-yard runs by Turner and Jerious Norwood, the Falcons had no running game, which made things tougher on Redman. It also didn’t help that starting left tackle Sam Baker and starting right guard Harvey Dahl left the game due to injuries and the Bucs revved up the pressure. Tampa produced six sacks on the day and harassed Redman for the majority of the game.

But with the game on the line, Redman was excellent. With 2:30 left on the clock and zero timeouts, he led the Falcons 59 yards for the game-winning score by taking what the Bucs gave them and methodically marching down the field. On the crucial fourth down attempt, Redman threw a bullet to White, who made an incredible catch in between defenders to secure the catch.

The Falcons have a ton of injuries, can’t defend the pass, need a new kicker (Jason Elam is horrible) and have two daunting home games against the Eagles and Saints over the next two weeks, but if they can build off the momentum they seized today, then they’ll make the playoffs. One could argue that they should have beaten a bad Tampa team by more than three points at home. But considering they were playing with several backups (including Redman), the only thing that matters is that they produced a victory. And with winnable games against the Jets, Bills and Bucs down the stretch, if they can find a way to beat either the Eagles or Saints over the next two weeks then a 10-win season is a possibility.

Speaking of Tampa, Josh Freeman (20-of-29 for 250 yards, 2 TDs) played very well and the defense responded to Morris calling the plays for the first time this season. But Morris’ decision to attempt a long field goal late in the fourth quarter set the Falcons up with prime field position to mount their comeback. Had Morris decided to punt, the Falcons would have had to drive the length of the field with no timeouts. Hindsight is always 20/20, but the decision to attempt the field goal doomed the Bucs.

Stick a fork in the Texans – they’re done.

In a tale of two halves, the Colts beat the Texans 35-27 on Sunday to stay undefeated and drop Houston to 5-6 on the season. In order to secure victory, Indianapolis had to erase first half deficits of 17-0 and 20-7.

In the first half, Matt Schaub had ample time to throw and the defense harassed Peyton Manning into two key interceptions. But in the second half, Manning picked them apart using the no huddle and Houston started to assume its fate. The Texans have had issues finishing off opponents all season and it was once again evident today.

The Texans had a golden opportunity to prove that they can take the next step and get the Indianapolis Colts monkey off their back and both slipped through their fingers. Once again, Houston is on the cusp of making the postseason and once again, they probably won’t be playing past the first weekend in January.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the Texans are missing (outside of a reliable kicker that is). Their young defense has shown flashes of massive potential, but they struggle producing in crunch time. Whether it’s coaching or the need for another playmaker on that side of the ball, it’s apparent that the Texans are missing one final component.

The Denver Broncos needed a win on Thanksgiving night against the New York Giants to stop their four-game losing skid.

What they got was their most dominating performance of the season.

Knowshon Moreno rushed 19 times for 88 yards and a touchdown, while also adding two receptions for 19 yards to help the Broncos beat the Giants, 26-6. Moreno also had two carries for 34 yards that were called back because of Daniel Graham holding penalties and was even better than his final numbers indicated.

Perhaps what was most comforting to the Broncos was how well their defense played. They forced three turnovers, held the Giants to only 57 rushing yards and kept New York on its side of the field for most of the game. In fact, the G-Men had only one attempt inside the red zone, which resulted in zero points. Elvis Dumervil continued his assault on quarterbacks, racking up two sacks, one tackle for loss and two QB hurries.

The Broncos put themselves behind the 8-ball by losing to the Chargers last week at home. But their victory Thursday night proved that they’re not going down without a fight and things are about to get interesting in the AFC West.

As for the Giants, this was one of their worst performances of the season outside of when they were shredded 48-27 by the Saints and 40-17 by the Eagles. New York was completely flat and seemed affected by the short week of rest and cross-country trip to Denver.

At 6-5, the Giants are still in decent position to make the playoffs but the Packers won and the Eagles play a beatable Redskins team on Sunday. The G-Men failed to capitalize on their win over the Falcons last week.