FanHouse Afc South

Had you told the Baltimore Ravens they would win the turnover battle against Peyton Manning and the Colts on Sunday, I'm pretty sure they would have assumed the result would be a victory. Of course, getting into the end zone against Indy generally is a necessity in order to win the football game. The Ravens didn't do that and lost, 17-15.

Despite allowing 354 yards of total offense -- 135 to burgeoning star Ray Rice -- the Colts defense buckled down when in their own territory, forcing the Ravens to attempt six field goals and punt twice in their first eight possessions. The Ravens still had a chance to win the football game late, but Joe Flacco was intercepted by Gary Brackett with just over two minutes left at the Indianapolis 13.

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What Bill Belichick did Sunday night has happened before. It justifiably earned Barry Switzer the nickname "Bozo The Coach'' for failing TWICE on fourth down in the late stages of a tie game. And the Eagles' Andy Reid did the opposite of the New England coach on Sunday, eschewing fourth-and-short twice to kick field goals in what turned out to be an eight-point loss.

Switzer's mistake didn't prevent Dallas from winning its third Super Bowl in four seasons in the early '90s, but it left Switzer at the top of the oft-debated list of worst coaches to win a title.

On Nov. 15, 1995, the Cowboys were playing in Philadelphia and faced a fourth down and 1 on their own 29 with the game tied 17-17 and just over two minutes left. Switzer decided to go for it and sent Emmitt Smith left over the massive Nate Newton.

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After starting the season 3-0, including impressive victories at Houston and against New England, the Jets have fallen flat on their collective faces. With a home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday -- a team that was previously 1-3 on the road -- the Jets have now lost four of their last five games. They've also lost their last three games at home, against the Bills, Dolphins and Jags.

Sunday, the Jets' problems emanated from losing the turnover battle (3-to-1), and their inability to stop Maurice Jones-Drew. MJD gained 123 yards on 24 carries and also threw in 22 receiving yards for good measure.

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The Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans entered the fourth quarter Sunday knotted at 17-all. Considering what happened in the last 15 minutes of the game, Bills head coach Dick Jauron and his team might have been better served to leave early.

When the dust settled, the Bills headed home with a 41-17 loss. They were also likely saddled with nightmares involving Tennessee running back Chris Johnson and the rejuvenated Titans defense.

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Maybe Texans coach Gary Kubiak was just doing the standard NFL coach non-answer thing. When asked yesterday about his team having interest in just-released Chiefs malcontent RB Larry Johnson, Kubiak hemmed and hawed, called Johnson "a good player" and said, "We'll take a look at him." And this might mean nothing, of course. Might mean Kubiak really can't say whether his team is interested, because maybe he doesn't want him but the owner does or vice-versa or something like that. If they do end up pursuing the guy, it won't help negotiations much if the coach is out front saying, "Yeah, we really want him." So Kubiak said basically what he's supposed to say, and reading too much into it is probably a mistake.

But regardless of what's really going on behind the scenes, and regardless of the muddle they have going on right now with Ryan Moats playing on running downs and Steve Slaton playing on passing downs or whatever they're trying to with their running backs, I think the Texans ought to take a pass on Larry Johnson. I think they have too much good stuff going on there right now to bring in his kinds of issues.

INDIANAPOLIS -- You expect the Colts to throw, and throw a lot, but even for Peyton Manning and his band of merry, pass-happy men this was a little bit nuts. Indy ran nine plays -- eight of them passes -- in the first two minutes of the game, averaging one every 14 seconds, completely disregarding the play clock and leaving their star offensive players more than a little bit tuckered out.

"I wouldn't call it fun," said tight end Dallas Clark, who caught 11 passes in the first half and 14 -- for 119 yards -- in the game. "When you run 60 plays in the first half, you're going to feel that on Wednesday and Thursday. But the win makes it feel a lot better."

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There's never a good time to have half of your defensive backfield hurt, but having it happen immediately before facing the Houston Texans' powerful passing attack is close to the worst possible situation during the regular season. But that is exactly what's happening in Indianapolis.

News broke Thursday that Marlin Jackson would be out for the season with a torn ACL -- for the second consecutive year. Friday, the Colts learned that Bob Sanders needs surgery to repair his injured elbow -- which will end his season, according to Adam Shefter of ESPN -- and that starting cornerback Kelvin Hayden has been definitively ruled out for Sunday's game as well.

In what will surely be a big blow to the Colts' very solid pass defense, Indianapolis starting cornerback Marlin Jackson confirmed Thursday that he has torn his ACL and will miss the rest of the season. The unfortunate injury reportedly occurred on the last play of Wednesday's practice -- it's the second straight year that Jackson's suffered a season-ending ACL injury.

The timing is especially bad for the Colts, as they gear up to face the league's third-ranked passing attack this weekend, in the Houston Texans. This also further jumbles the situation as to who will guard superstar wideout Andre Johnson, considering Kelvin Hayden is also banged up for the Colts.

The timing for Jackson is actually worse than it is for his team. He's scheduled to be a free agent at the conclusion of the 2009-2010 season and he likely won't be healthy enough to prove himself until most teams will have filled their most pressing depth chart needs.

Much has been made about the Indianapolis Colts and their 7-0 start. As I pointed out in the power rankings, they are actually 82-21 in the regular season since the beginning of 2003. They are an absolute juggernaut. Thus far this season, we've heard lots of talk about how Peyton Manning looks better than ever and the Colts are firing on all cylinders. This week, we're bound to hear a lot about how the Colts are the biggest test yet for a Houston Texans team looking to visit the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

The funny thing is, in a movement worthy of Bizarro-World status, the Texans are actually the first big test for the Colts.

If you write about the Houston Texans, the No. 1 question you get from fans and fantasy football types is what's up with Steve Slaton? In the last game against the atrocious run defense of the Buffalo Bills, Slaton was benched after only one catch and carry because he fumbled the ball. Yet again. Slaton has a league-high seven fumbles for the year.

Coach Gary Kubiak was up front about the benching, talking about it to Slaton and the team: "I told Steve in the locker room to get his chin up. This team needs him playing well and making plays and I'm expecting him to come right back next week and help us."