Arguing (discussing?) with an Old Friend.

You have questions, I have questions, and that's as it should be since one of mankind's oldest adages says there are two sides to every story.

That must be true because all of a sudden, now, Attorney General Nominee, Alberto Gonzales, even thinks there are two sides to the seemingly simple question: "Is torture wrong?"

So I called my oldest friend and one of the shrewdest sports bettors I know and we hashed out this weekend's games. I'll call him Nate since that's his real first name.

Here's what we had to say on the subjects where we couldn't reach agreement.

Considering the condition of the New England secondary, what can realistically be expected of the Patriots' chances this weekend?

Nate: The way the Pats need to play to win is to have long drives. They need to run the ball with Corey Dillon and use a controlled, short passing game to keep the Colts offense on the sidelines.

If they can get to 32, 33 or 34 minutes of ball control, they have helluva chance. But they absolutely can't get into a shootout with these guys because Indianapolis will win. Peyton Manning's seen everything (New England coach Bill) Belichick's going to throw at him. It's just a matter of when Belichick gives it to him and how he gives it to him, which is the chess game we have here.

Manning seems to have no trouble with the 4-3, but the 3-4 is another story because of the line calls he has to make. He has to be in a situation where he has a good feel of what (defenses are) trying to do to him to make sure they don't turn linebackers loose for free runs at him.

The difficulty is: Where are the four linebackers going? What are they doing? Who's rushing? Who's dropping? And where are they dropping to? That's where it becomes a chess match.

Bob: Well, they've been able to defend against Peyton Manning before through different looks on defense, and this will be no different. You have a cerebral coach against a cerebral quarterback, and there will be a lot of gamesmanship back and forth.

But I think the Patriots will come up with some wrinkles and kind of plan to keep Indianapolis from getting big plays by disguising their coverages and blitzes. With the crowd noise you're bound to get, Manning will have a hard time communicating, and that's what he's all about. So I could see the Colts having trouble picking up all the blitzes they're going to see. And that could be a problem.

With Manning not able to communicate with his line and his backs he's going to have to push it, push it, push it, and he'll find himself in some bad situations because of all the different looks Belichick and D-coordinator, Romeo Crennell will throw at him.

So who wins this one?

Nate: The Colts. Even though I laid out what the Pats have to do, it will be very difficult to maintain patience if they get a negative play or fall behind. To me the key is: Will (New England offensive coordinator) Charlie Weis have enough patience to manage a long-drive type of game? That will be tough, especially if the Colts get ahead and force the Patriots out of the running game.

I don't see the crowd noise as an issue because Manning's been in this situation before, and he communicates by walking up and down the line. Guys can hear that. For New England, the Patriots have to keep this a one-possession game and not get in a shootout they can't win; for the Colts, they must get out ahead early and force New England out of its game plan.

Bob: New England. It's hard to bet against a guy who's thrown 49 touchdowns and who has the receivers Manning does. But the difference in this game will be New England finding a way to make some stops. If they do that and if Tom Brady is able to hold on to the ball, I don't see the Indianapolis secondary shutting down what New England wants to do.

You're going to see a steady diet of Dillon running the ball, and that will be the difference. I see New England making more plays on defense and offense, largely because they have a lot on their side. I know their secondary is banged up, but they still do things offensively to give teams problems.

They should be able to convert a lot of third downs, and that will be a problem for the Colts. They can't score with them, there's no doubt about it, but New England can ball-control you to death. The Patriots always play Manning really, really well, and the home crowd will make it hard for him to communicate everything he needs to do to have the success he's accustomed to having. And, remember it won't be on a fast track carpet at 70 degrees with no wind.

Who's under more pressure now in Philadelphia -- quarterback Donovan McNabb or coach Andy Reid?

Nate: It's probably Reid. If the Eagles lose, McNabb's not going to be the culprit. The culprit, or maybe I should say automatic scapegoat, will be the lack of preparation and rust these guys supposedly accumulated down the stretch.

Without Terrell Owens, McNabb will have to be patient. He's going to have to run more and his receivers will have to step up. But the pressure's squarely on the coaching staff because the expectation all year has been that the Eagles will be in the Super Bowl. It's almost as if they've done everything but order their hotel rooms in Jacksonville, and that's a huge weight to carry.

If they get behind early -- and Minnesota is a club that can score quickly -- the crowd will turn on them, and there will be hell to pay. Let's face it: The pressure's not on the Vikings; it's on the Eagles because of those three NFC Championship Game losses. And that pressure moves to the offensive and defensive coaching staff. The Eagles haven't played a great game in almost 40 days, and that's something the coaching staff will have to overcome.

Bob: The pressure is clearly on McNabb. He must find a way to make plays. Without the one big receiver who's been his go-to guy all year and produced the biggest plays for this offense, McNabb becomes your biggest threat. And he's going to be hard pressed to duplicate what he did when Owens was in there.

A lot of the weight of the game will fall on his shoulders and the shoulders of his offensive linemen. Their receivers will have to work themselves open, and that's a potential problem because McNabb is all about rhythm and timing. If you disrupt his receivers you disrupt him and force him to make the bad throws. The first time these two met, Philadelphia had Owens, and he scored a clinching touchdown. What does his absence mean for Minnesota?

It means they can gang up on (running back Brian) Westbrook and McNabb. Owens is a real big loss. The Eagles receivers are going to have to catch the ball 95 percent of the time when given the opportunity. There is no margin for error. Nobody on the Eagles scares people like Owens does, so Minnesota just has to be conscious of not surrendering big plays and forcing McNabb and Westbrook to beat them.

It's not that they're not going to pay attention to the wideouts; I just don't think they believe the Eagles wideouts can beat them. The guys who can beat them are McNabb and Westbrook.

It's huge. What they can try to do is play more physically on defense. They can take (Antoine) Winfield and put him on whoever they deem to be the Eagles' best receiver. They can play a little bit of a "star coverage," with Winfield staying on the receiver they consider the most dangerous and taking him out of the game. They'll have to concentrate on (Westbrook) and the tight ends, so take the best receiver out of the game and it's a huge advantage for Minnesota.

Instead of worrying about coverage so much, the Vikings linebackers and strong safety can now commit to stopping Westbrook -- putting some extra guys down so he can't run the ball -- and maybe doing some things to control McNabb. I don't know, maybe throw an "umbrella" at him and don't let him have running lanes. But make Donovan McNabb throw the ball. That should be the battle cry for the Vikings.

Which quarterback winds up deciding the Atlanta-St. Louis game: Michael Vick or Marc Bulger?

Nate: Bulger. I think he'll be more poised than Vick. Vick will try to win the game himself, and the Falcons will be looking for him to win the game. But I'll take Bulger, especially after watching him the last three weeks. He's done very little that's wrong, which means I like the Rams here. They seem to have figured it out. They're playing indoors. They're not making mistakes. The Falcons are young, and they're expected to win. The pressure is all on them. To me, the key is the play of the Rams tackles: St. Louis should get a draw with (Orlando) Pace vs. (Patrick) Kerney or Pace vs. (Brady) Smith if they flop them. But let's see how (Blaine) Saipaia plays. They're going to have to "max protect" on that side or use a back or tight end to chip defenders to give Saipaia help. So the key is how the tackles play to give Bulger time to get the ball to (Torry) Holt and (Isaac) Bruce.

Bob: If Bulger continues to throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball, and there are interceptions and he starts taking sacks, it plays right into Atlanta's hands. Clearly, the Falcons are good at rushing the passer, and if they pressure Bulger into bad throws, you're going to see Vick with the ball a lot. That would spell doom for St. Louis.

You give Michael Vick some short-field drives; make him go only 40 or 50 yards, and you're going to have problems. They'll kick field goals and score touchdowns, and the more the Rams are behind -- unless, of course, they're playing Seattle -- the more Bulger will press. And the more he presses the more he makes mistakes.

If you were to give the Rams' Mike Martz advice, what would it be?

Nate: Do the same thing you did in Seattle. Take some shots down the field, run the ball with your two backs and let Bulger manage the game. I would just try to do what he did the past week. I know the Falcons rush the passer better than Seattle, but their secondary isn't as good. So take some shots at them.

Bob: Saddle up Marshall Faulk and Steven Jackson and do his best to control the tempo of the game. In my opinion, no run is a bad run for these guys. I'd take a page from the Kansas City game plan against Atlanta and try to establish some type of rushing attack. I know Kansas City has a Pro Bowl offensive line, and the Rams' offensive line is banged up, but you have to find a way to control the tempo of the game, to control the clock and to keep Vick off the field. So let Faulk and Jackson dictate the game.

The playoffs are a new experience for Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger. Is he the X-factor here?

Nate: No. The X-factor is Duce Staley. This is all about how the Steelers utilize Bettis and Staley; how they get enough carries for both; and if Staley is 100 percent and ready to go. I think the Steelers take the ball out of Roethlisberger's hands and pound, pound, pound with their backs. The Steelers will try to grind on the Jets, which will free Roethlisberger for play-action to get the ball to (Hines) Ward and (Antwaan) Randle El and to try some shots downfield to (Plaxico) Burress. Roethlisberger just has to manage the game; he doesn't have to try to win it with big plays. He simply has to make sure he doesn't hurt them.

Bob: What benefits him most is that he had a chance to watch the playoffs the first week, which gave him time to heal up and allowed him to collect his thoughts. Maybe the Steelers went through some mechanical stuff with him on reads and what he might see; all I know is that it's a huge advantage for him because he's seen the Jets already this season. He knows their speed. He knows the guys they play on defense.

Sure, he doesn't know playoff intensity yet, but he'll learn it quickly in that first series. And, remember, he's seen the Jets before. The Steelers can take that film and train off of it and say, "OK, they had good success doing this against you, and they might need to work on this to stop you." I would venture to say you'll see a steady diet of run, run, run and run with passing by Roethlisberger only as a last resort. The Steelers will try to keep the throws to the minimum. Yes, they'll try to make plays with passes, but it will be a controlled passing game.

Can the Jets win this one?

Nate: Yes, but they won't. I like the home team here. The Steelers will wear down the Jets, and the Jets don't have enough big-play capability to surprise them. The Steelers played ahead all year, and if they play ahead it helps them with a conservative, ball-control approach. So how do the Jets win? Like the Vikings, they should try to get ahead early in the first quarter and get Pittsburgh out of what they want to do best, which is run the ball. They must get ahead. If they don't, it's over.

Bob: I'll take the Steelers. The Jets are on an emotional ride, and they had a nice win in San Diego. I think they surprised themselves a little bit flying across the country to win the game, but let's give them credit: They did it. Now, this is the end of the line. Taking on Pittsburgh at home is too much of a tough task.