Colts at Giants
Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.,
Sunday, Nov. 14

AT A GLANCE: The Colts beat the Giants in one of the most famous games ever played — the 1958 NFL championship game. Now these teams are trying to climb back to the level of Super Bowl contenders.

Well, don’t look now, but these two teams are right in the thick of their division races. And considering the ways things have been shaking out this season — good teams suddenly becoming bad, and formerly bad teams becoming shockingly good — who knows how far either club could go?

The Colts have won four games in a row to move to 6-2, their best start since the then-Baltimore Colts opened 9-1 in 1977. Duking it out in the AFC East, arguably the NFL’s toughest division this season, the young Colts have opened a lot of eyes in the first half of the campaign.

The Giants (5-3) rode a three-game winning streak into their Week Nine bye. Considering the competition in the NFC East, if the Giants can put together a second-half surge like last season, when they won five of their last six games, they have a real shot at the division title.

The Colts and Giants met in what some people call the greatest game of all time — the 1958 NFL championship game. The Colts prevailed that day, 23-17, in what was the NFL’s first title game decided in sudden-death overtime.

WHEN THE COLTS HAVE THE BALL:

The Colts are running a very well-balanced offense. They have added a new wrinkle in recent weeks by getting rookie RB Edgerrin James more involved in the passing game, a la Marshall Faulk in 1998. The tireless James has been a real asset to the Colts’ offense, as he just keeps banging away at opponents. However, he has been prone to fumble this year, so the aggressive Giants defense will be looking to strip him of the ball.

Quite simply, the outstanding play of the Giants’ defense is the only reason why they are 5-3 at this point.

QB Peyton Manning, who has been sacked only seven times in eight games, has a great rapport with WR Marvin Harrison. Harrison is a big-play threat who has performed well against top-flight cornerbacks this season. This week he gets CBs Phillippi Sparks and Jason Sehorn, both very good cover men. The corner who isn’t on Harrison will have a size advantage over smallish rookie WR Terrence Wilkins, whom the Colts like to get the ball to underneath.