Sunday, 23 September 2012 05:55

Written by Paul Zeise

Here is a quick look at the top five games of today and tomorrow (Not counting Steelers game). This is an excellent week for football, by the way, as there are a lot of good games. But these five are the best of the bunch -

Ravens (1-1) at Patriots, tonight, 8:20 p.m., NBC - A rematch of the AFC title game finds both teams surprisingly coming off a loss. But both teams should still be regarded as favorites in the AFC. The Ravens, however, could find themselves trailing the Steelers with a loss here and while the season is young, that is something that nobody would have predicted after week 1. But Tom Brady is usually very good coming off a loss so the Ravens defense will be put to the test.

Houston (2-0) at Denver, today, 4:25 p.m., CBS - The Texans are one of the favorites in the AFC and have excellent players in all three phases. Peyton Manning was awful in the Broncos last game - a loss at Atlanta - but he is not likely to throw three interceptions in the first quarter of this one. The key to this one will be the Texans running game. If the Texans can run with success, they can control the clock, keep their defense fresh and keep Manning and company from getting on a roll.

Kansas City (0-2) at New Orleans (0-2), today,  1 p.m. CBS - Yeah, both teams are 0-2 but that means both are desperate for a win and usually that translates into a very competitive game. Kansas City will have to stop the Saints but the Saints have been self destructive. If New Orleans wants to stay in the playoff hunt - I know it is early - they cannot go to 0-3.

Cincinnati (1-1) at Washington (1-1), today, 1 pm, CBS - Any game with RG3 in it (that would be Robert Griffith III) should be fun to watch and the Bengals defense has struggled, so the Redskins could put up a lot of number. But in Griffith and Andy Dalton, this game features two of the best young quarterbacks in the game.

Atlanta (2-0) at San Diego (2-0), today, 4:05 p.m., Fox - This is a game featuring two surprising 2-0 teams but both teams are capable of moving the football and scoring a lot of points, so it shouldb be a lot of fun. And the two quarterbacks - Matt Ryan and Phillip Rivers are two players on the cusp of being stars but they both have a lot to prove and both need to win something of signficance.. The Falcons will need to get Michael Turner loose in order to have a real  chance to win the game.