NFL Fanhouse Previews

The NFC South takes center stage on Monday night with a huge showdown between Atlanta and New Orleans in the Superdome.

And in anticipation of the crucial ballgame in the bayou, we've turned the show over to Tom Mantzouranis, our resident Saints guru, and Knox Bardeen, a credentialed member of the media covering the Falcons.

Those two break down the game's most important storylines after the jump. And come back at kickoff to join us in our weekly Monday Night Football live chat.

There aren't normally this many unbeaten teams left after six weeks of the season -- the number right now is four, a "modern'' record. (which means nobody really knows who did what back in the days of the Canton Bulldogs and Providence Steamrollers.)

There might be only one after this week: Denver, which isn't playing. Although, to get serious, does anyone really expect the Rams to beat the Colts? And we'll get to the Saints later.

But it's time for the Vikings to lose (yes, I've said that before.) If not for Brett Favre and Greg Lewis, they would have lost to San Francisco. If not for Steve Hauschka, the Raven's field-goal kicker, they would have lost last week to Baltimore.

ATLANTA, Ga. -- Sunday Night, the Chicago Bears are in town visiting the Atlanta Falcons and fireworks could be in order inside the Georgia Dome. Both offenses can be prolific and they will be throwing against weaker defensive secondaries.

So expect the scoreboard operators to get a workout. When all is said and done, if the result is going to favor the Falcons, here's what they'll need to do.

• The Bears rank 4th in the NFL with 14 sacks. Adewale Ogunleye has 4.5 and Alex Brown has 2.5 to lead the pass rush, but seven other players each have a sack. The bring the heat well and frustrate the best of opposing quarterbacks. The Falcons, on the other hand, have the best offensive line in the league when it comes to protecting the quarterback as Matt Ryan has only been sacked twice this season. The offensive line must continue to protect Ryan on Sunday night, giving him time to find any of his plethora of receiving targets.

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Two undefeated teams enter, one leaves with a win and the unquestioned title of NFC Favorite. This is what football is all about.

Brother Eli and the G-Men travel to the Superdome with Super aspirations in mind. Coach Sean Payton has put the "S" back in Saints, and New Orleans will look to extend a four-game winning streak that has been matched just three times in Saints history.

There's a very good chance (barring late-season mojo from Grandfather Time) that this Week 6 matchup will end up being a preview of the NFC Championship game in January, which makes it by all accounts the game of the week.

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This year's Jets are just built for media coverage -- between superstar rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez, bold and brash head coach Rex Ryan, and now, wide receiver/model/actor Braylon Edwards, there are plenty of storylines to keep New York in the headlines.

But heading into tonight's game between the Jets and Dolphins, here's what you might not be reading: This game is more important for Miami.

Even with a loss, the Jets would still sit in first in the AFC East with a very favorable schedule coming up (Buffalo, at Oakland, Miami, Jacksonville in their next four). The Dolphins, on the other hand, are in make-or-break mode. After a Week 6 bye, the Dolphins host New Orleans, then have to play the Jets and Patriots on the road back-to-back. With three losses already, Miami's on the verge of falling out of the postseason picture -- even in a division that looks to be there for the taking.

It's not very often you'll find a 4-0 team as a home underdog against a non-undefeated team, but that's exactly the scenario that has played out. New England's only road game this season was in New York, where the Jet defense completely stifled the New England offense as the team handed the Patriots their only loss of the season. No defense has played better than that of the Denver Broncos, and the team has given up just 26 points combined over the first four games of the season. Sure, a couple of those games were against Brady Quinn and JaMarcus Russell-led teams, but you can only beat the teams you play, and Denver has done a great job of that this year.

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Cincinnati (3-1) really could be 4-0 and would be, if not for the Madden-esque TD reception by Denver's Brandon Stokley in Week 1. Since that game, the Bengals traveled to Green Bay and beat a heavily-favored Packer team, took down world champion Pittsburgh at home, and just barely survived a letdown game in Cleveland last week.

Baltimore (3-1) feels like they should be 4-0, victimized by an iffy penalty in last week's game at Foxboro (if the game was at home, are the Ravens not penalized?). With Pittsburgh lurking, each of these Cincinnati-Baltimore games are critical in battling for a playoff spot. Most people see the Ravens as a contender, but the Bengals as a pretender.

Is that fair?

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With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. We call it The Once-Over.

The Early Games

Minnesota (4-0) at St. Louis (0-4): One of the reasons that the Vikings are off to one of their best starts in six years is the 40-year old Brett Favre. Surprisingly, he's experiencing success by avoiding the risky situations that he flourished in during the early portion of his career and that caused him grief in the later. Against St. Louis, Favre should be able to throw the ball like he was still in his 20s, but the wise, older quarterback would do good to let Adrian Peterson run the ball, since the Rams are porous against the run.

Kyle Boller will likely start for the Rams instead of Marc Bulger, which isn't good news for the Rams. Boller threw for only 108 yards last week with an interception filling in for the injured Bulger. Steven Jackson will find it tough to run against Minnesota and their top-ten rush defense.

Pick: Minnesota

We have to talk about Brett Favre -- I'm sorry, that's just the way it's got to be. To ignore Favre's involvement in the season's first Green Bay-Minnesota clash would be like discussing the Cold War and leaving out Gorbachev.

Monday's key NFC North matchup will mark the first time Favre has played against the Packers, with whom he starred for 16 seasons, and he'll do so while wearing the jersey of one of Green Bay's most hated rivals. It probably doesn't help Packers fans' waning allegiances to Favre that Minnesota's off to a 3-0 start and sits in first in the division. Green Bay, on the other hand, is just two weeks removed from a stunning home loss to Cincinnati and trying to keep pace.

All Favre aside, there's a lot on the line in the Metrodome Monday, and who comes away with a victory will depend on a lot more than just Minnesota's new quarterback.

Brett Favre's first game against the team he led from 1992-2007 is a good enough storyline on its own. But by the time Favre takes the field for the Vikings in the Metrodome to face the Packers, anyone who watches anything on the "Worldwide Leader's'' "Family of Networks'' may be so Favred-out that the game will be anti-climactic.

Example: ESPN2's "Sports Nation,'' ("nation'' in this context is a cliche that should be bagged) promises to utter the word "Favre'' 275 times during its Monday afternoon show. Who knows how many times it -- and other ESPN outlets -- will show Favre's last-second TD pass that beat San Francisco last week.

Thus I am heeding the the advice I got to shut off the television until 8:30 p.m. Monday.