It’d Be a Real Stretch to Call Them Big Games

The Times’ ratings scale for this week’s games:

**** Don’t miss a down

*** Could be good

** Who let the dogs out?

* Stupor Bowl

*

Welcome to the “stretch drive” of the NFL season, which has unloaded a Week 15 schedule featuring two games pitting 5-8 teams, another game matching 4-9 teams, San Francisco playing host to Washington, Arizona playing host to St. Louis and only three games pairing teams with winning records.

Best of the lot: Baltimore at Indianapolis on Sunday night -- Peyton Manning needing two touchdown passes to tie Dan Marino’s single-season record of 48, on national prime-time television, against the Ravens’ resilient pass defense.

**Pittsburgh (12-1) at New York Giants (5-8), Saturday, 10:30 a.m. -- So, had the Giants done nothing on draft day except wait for their turn and select Ben Roethlisberger at No. 4, would they be 12-1 with young Ben today? You kidding? Roethlisberger was only nine for 19 with two interceptions last week against the Jets. Bill Cowher responded by shrugging and having Jerome Bettis throw a touchdown pass. Tom Coughlin would have benched Roethlisberger, brought on Kurt Warner, lost the game and fed another boatload of raw meat to the tabloids.

*Washington (4-9) at San Francisco (2-11), Saturday, 2 p.m. -- In a 14-year span, from 1982 to 1995, these teams combined to win eight Super Bowls. Now, it’s Patrick Ramsey starting against Ken Dorsey, with 49er Coach Dennis Erickson praying for John York to fire him.

***Carolina (6-7) at Atlanta (10-3), Saturday, 5:30 p.m. -- Atlanta has clinched the NFC South title, Michael Vick is 4-0 in career starts against the Panthers and the game is at the Georgia Dome. Are the Falcons worried? They should be. Atlanta running back T.J. Duckett is hurt, Carolina is 5-0 after a 1-7 start and needs to win to maintain its current position as the last NFC wild card.

**Houston (5-8) at Chicago (5-8), Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Two more 5-8 teams playing out the string. Not much to choose from here. The Texans have lost five of their last six games and are 0-3 against NFC North teams. The Bears have lost three of their last four games and have been outscored, 63-13, in their last two against AFC South teams.

***Buffalo (7-6) at Cincinnati (6-7), Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Two teams that wish the season opened in October. After an 0-4 start, the Bills are 7-2 and still on the outer fringes of the AFC playoff picture. The Bengals began the season 1-4 as Carson Palmer grappled with his learning curve, then watched him figure out NFL defenses and win five of his next eight starts. Palmer sprained a knee last Sunday against New England, so Jon Kitna, 2003 NFL comeback player of the year, will make his first start of 2004.

**San Diego (10-3) at Cleveland (3-10), Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Marty Schottenheimer returns to Cleveland, where he spent four seasons (1985 to ‘88) with the original Browns and reached the playoffs four times. Since Schottenheimer left, Cleveland teams have produced a total of three playoff berths -- and this squad is coming off a game in which the Browns managed 17 total yards against Buffalo, the fifth lowest figure in league history.

**Minnesota (7-6) at Detroit (5-8), Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Fans in Minnesota want Coach Mike Tice fired after a 2-5 swoon embodied by the Randy Moss-interception-in-the-end-zone play call last Sunday against Seattle. Fans in Detroit want Joey Harrington benched after his five-for-22 performance against Green Bay. And that’s life in the NFC North in December 2004.

***Seattle (7-6) at New York Jets (9-4), Sunday, 10 a.m. -- The Jets have lost four straight games against teams with winning records, causing Coach Herman Edwards to ask one very good question: “Why even go to the playoffs if we can’t prove we can beat one of these teams?” Defeating the Seahawks, currently one game above .500, sounds like a reasonable place to start.

**Dallas (5-8) at Philadelphia (12-1), Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Once-great NFC rivalry now features the week’s biggest point spread: the Eagles by 12 1/2 . Philadelphia can clinch home-field advantage through the NFC playoffs with a victory. Dallas must win to keep its faint playoff hopes alive, and will have to do it with Vinny Testaverde, who went 14 for 35 in last week’s languid loss to the Saints.

**Denver (8-5) at Kansas City (5-8), Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Right now, the Broncos are seeded seventh in the AFC, and dropping like a stone. After back-to-back losses to Oakland and San Diego, Denver struggled to beat Miami by a field goal at home, a performance punctuated by Jake Plummer’s half-victory-sign salute to a home heckler. Kansas City is 4-1 in its last five home games against the Broncos and the Chiefs are coming off a 49-38 Monday night triumph over Tennessee.

**New Orleans (5-8) at Tampa Bay (5-8), Sunday, 1 p.m. -- This game is this year’s NFL in a nutshell. Eight teams -- 25% of the league -- have 5-8 records, and these are two of them. Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl 23 months ago. New Orleans has playoff-caliber talent but hasn’t won back-to-back games since September and hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record this season. The winner of this one has a chance to finish 8-8 -- and, in this season’s NFC, possibly sneak into the playoffs.

**St. Louis (6-7) at Arizona (4-9), Sunday, 1 p.m. -- His team 0-4 since he began playing dial-a-quarterback, Arizona Coach Dennis Green now concedes he might not have done his best coaching job this season. You think? The Rams enter this must-win game with their own quarterback troubles -- namely, Chris Chandler, who threw six interceptions last week against Carolina and could start again in place of Marc Bulger, who has a sore shoulder.

***Jacksonville (7-6) at Green Bay (8-5), Sunday, 1:15 p.m. -- Jacksonville needs to win to stay in wild-card contention, but the Jaguars have yet to play a game this season in weather colder than 29 degrees. Welcome to Green Bay, Jaguars. Brett Favre is 31-0 in regular-season games played in temperatures of 34 degrees or lower.

*Tennessee (4-9) at Oakland (4-9), Sunday, 1:15 p.m. -- On Jan. 19, 2003, the Raiders defeated the Titans, 41-24, in the AFC championship game. This weekend they play for nothing -- both teams have been eliminated from playoff consideration -- except, perhaps, the Billy Volek Fan Club.

***Baltimore (8-5) at Indianapolis (10-3), Sunday, 5:30 p.m. -- Is this the night Manning breaks Marino’s record? He has the advantages of going after the record at home and on national television -- and the disadvantage of trying to do it against the Ravens, who have yielded only 10 scoring passes this season. Worth noting: Cincinnati’s Palmer had three touchdown passes against the Ravens in the fourth quarter two weeks ago.

**New England (12-1) at Miami (2-11), Monday, 6 p.m. -- Monday night motivations: New England continues its quest for home-field advantage in the AFC, Miami continues its quest to avoid the worst record in club history. The 1966 expansion Dolphins hold that distinction at 3-11.