How the mighty have fallen: if the Colts had only chose to pursue their destiny and actually put up a fight against the Jets last week they probably would have won and they'd be entering Week 17 with a chance to become the first 19-0 team in history. Their game against the Bills easily would have been the week's biggest draw. Remember the Patriots-Giants season-finale in 2007, when New England became the first 16-0 team? That game was shown on not one, not two, but three different national networks, a first in American sports broadcasting.

 

Indy-Buffalo would have given us similar widespread national interest. 

 

Instead, Colts-Bills is just another meaningless game between an NFL powerhouse and an NFL also-ran, drawing only limited local coverage and the bottom-barrel crew of Macatee-Beuerlein. In other words, the wind has gone out of Indy's sails, even in the eyes of the networks. The Colts deserve nothing better.

 

Pittsburgh-Miami, a game that could prove to have loads of playoff implications, is the top draw in the early slot on CBS, with coast-to-coast coverage and the network's No. 2 tandem of Gumbel-Dierdorf.

 

Giants-Favrkings draws widespread coast-to-coast coverage and the No. 2 team of Albert-Johnston-Sausage Boy. The game has little meaning other than Minnesota's effort to capture the No. 2 seed. But the expanse of coverage speaks to the eternal appeal of BrettFavre, not to mention the generally large appeal of the No. 1 media-market G-Men.

 

The Saints, meanwhile, have struggled for national appeal all year, even as they toyed with an undefeated season. Few of their Sunday afternoon games have generated widespread national coverage. And the season finale against the surging Panthers is no different: it will be seen only regionally in the Deep South, while the tandem of Brennaman-Billick calls the action.

 

The late slate is divided almost evenly between Ravens-Raiders, which gets coverage across both coasts, and Chiefs-Broncos, which will be seen throughout most of the Great Plains and Mountain states. Baltimore-Oakland, however, garners CBS's top tandem of Nantz-Simms.

 

Chris Johnson's quest for history against the Seahawks, meanwhile, will be seen only regionally around Tennessee and in the Pacific Northwest (which is a curious term, isn't it? As opposed to what, the Atlantic Northwest? The Pacific Southeast?)

 

The Cowboys are almost always the nation's biggest draw, and a Week 17 showdown against the rival Eagles with huge playoff implications (at least by the low standards of the 2009 season) is a certain winner. As you probably expected, the game will generate near national exposure and the No. 1 tandem of Buck-Aikman, even though it's going up against an appealing Packers-Cardinals game that pits two Super Bowl contenders. The big-play Eagles, meanwhile, drew huge national coverage last week for their big win over the Broncos.