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This weekend, the battle for supremacy in the NFL will take place as two AFC powerhouses, the unquestioned two best teams in professional football, will meet to determine which is in fact the alpha dog in this pack.

Let me know how it goes, okay?  I'll be at the Texans-Raiders game instead.

After giving the impression in the beginning part of the season it was finally ready to join the NFL after having played in the league since 2002, Houston has lately slid back into near "oh, are they playing?" irrelevance.  (Hey, I can relate.)  While the Texans have one of the best passing games in the league, they can't run the ball worth a cow's salt lick and their defense is average in the extreme against both the run and the pass.  The team has at least some positive direction going for a change, but at the same time gives every impression of being stuck at the "work in progress" phase of its existence.

As to the Raiders, head coach Lane Kiffin has announced Josh McCown will start at quarterback this Sunday in lieu of Daunte Culpepper who was anything but stellar in his past three starts.  That said, laying it all on Culpepper would be greatly missing a huge piece of the puzzle that when assembled outlines Oakland's problems.  The offensive line has been distressingly inept the past few games after starting out strong, so unless that is corrected it doesn't matter who's under center as they'll be running for their lives nine plays out of ten.  The running game has also suffered from this up front ineptitude.

On the other side of the ball, while the Raiders continue to struggle against the run the pass defense has improved from the start of the season.  Which is nice, but when your opponent knows it can hand the ball off all day and be none the worse for it, does it really matter how you play against the pass?

Ah well.  It's my team and I'll suffer with it if I want to.