Five Thoughts about each of Saturday’s games:

Arizona (+7) at New Orleans

1. The total is interesting here. The books set it at a sky high 57.5 – higher than either team had faced all year. Still, because of what Arizona did last week and what New Orleans is capable of doing I was expecting that the public might push it higher still. They haven’t – it’s down as low as 56. That’s more restraint than I typically give the public credit for having.

2. Can Early Doucet capture lightning two weeks in a row? Doucet was brilliant last week, and he was a big part of what the Cards did last week. Another big game from him would certainly help Arizona’s cause.

3. You really need to play amateur psychologist for this one. The Saints had a bitter, ugly collapse down the stretch after such a great start. You can argue that they just took their foot off the gas once there was nothing more to play for, but I’m not sure I entirely buy that argument. This isn’t a team with a surplus of playoff experience. New Orleans need to move their game up to a totally new level if they want to win. The trick is figuring out if they can do that.

4. Can New Orleans find any pressure? Kurt Warner is operating on a higher plane these days. The Saints need to find a way to knock him out of his routine if they want to keep the total below triple digits. They haven’t typically excelled at doing that, though. This is one of several places that the Saints could stand to elevate their game this week.

5. Does the Arizona defense have a pulse? Last week they were almost totally absent until the overtime period. The offense will be able to do enough this week that the defense doesn’t need to play total shutdown football, but t would certainly help if they were significantly better than last week. We know that they have the ability to be.

Baltimore (+6.5) at Indianapolis

1. I’m fascinated by the fact that the action is pretty evenly split in this one. The Colts are typically a far more public team than the Ravens, but for whatever reason the public is on Baltimore just as much as Indy this week. That’s a sign that the public was impressed by the way Baltimore tore apart the most public of teams last week.

2. What about Joe Flacco? Flacco looks like he has been run over by a truck one time too many – he is clearly in pain when he walks off the field or picks himself up after a hit. Those physical limits clearly contributed to an incomprehensibly bad passing game last week – 4 of 10 for 34 yards. He’ll need to be healthier and better this week if the Ravens want to pull off the big upset.

3. Can Baltimore run at will again? The Ravens won last week because Ray Rice couldn’t be stopped. Indianapolis only had the 25th best run defense in the league, so this matchup is going to be a determining factor in the game.

4. Can the Colts turn it back on? There has been far too much talk recently about whether the Colts can turn things on again when the playoffs start after cruising for a few weeks. As overblown as the talk has been, the issue is real. They haven’t always done well in the past, and they are against a team that is deceptively dangerous, so it will be very interesting to watch.

5. Was the last game between these two teams a real indicator? The Colts won the game, but just barely. The Ravens were able to contain Manning as well as anyone has, and they fought right until the end. It wouldn’t have taken much for the Ravens to win that one, so if that game was a good indicator for both teams then this one could be a real war.