Holmes, Martin a Motley Crew of Two

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

**** -- Don’t miss a down.

*** -- Could be good.

** -- Who let the dogs out?

* -- Stupor bowl.

It’s sort of been lost in the shuffle this season with all the other blockbuster news, such as Ricky Williams’ running himself out of town, Randy Moss’ hamstring, Jamal Lewis’ trouble with the law, the Patriots’ being great, the Dolphins’ being awful and the sensational debut of that new culinary treat in Pittsburgh, the Ben Roethlis-burger.

Even so, this is one battle that can go unnoticed no longer. It’s two running backs in a race with age -- and history.

It’s the sprint to the rushing title being waged by Priest Holmes of the Kansas City Chiefs and Curtis Martin of the New York Jets, each 31.

Holmes leads the league with 690 yards rushing, and Martin is next with 683. Holmes is on a pace to finish with 1,577 and Martin with 1,561.

If either winds up as the rushing leader, he will be the oldest since 1950, when 30-year-old Marion Motley of the Cleveland Browns reigned after gaining 810 yards in a 12-game season.

Motley, at 6 feet 1 and 232 pounds, also played linebacker early in his career. Besides being a hard runner, he was a devastating blocker who added to the effectiveness of quarterback Otto Graham. Motley finished his career with 4,720 yards in 828 carries for a 5.7-yard average. Now, 54 years after Motley set the standard for the over-30 guys, Holmes and Martin are taking off after him. They’re chasing a big target.

**** New England at Pittsburgh, Sunday, 1:15 p.m. -- In a league where winless Miami beats the Rams and Seattle loses to Arizona and 1-4 Cincinnati beats 5-1 Denver, it’s refreshing to know that through all this, New England is at least predictable. The Patriots keep winning, their streak at 21 games. So guess who’s the higher-rated quarterback here, Roethlisberger of the Steelers or Tom Brady of the Patriots? It’s Roethlisberger, the rookie, fourth in the league and second to Peyton Manning in the AFC.

**** Baltimore at Philadelphia, Sunday, 10 a.m. -- The 6-0 Eagles are the only other unbeaten team, and Donovan McNabb, behind only Minnesota’s Daunte Culpepper in the NFC quarterback ratings, will direct the league’s fourth-best offense against a Raven defense that gives up an average of 4.4 yards a play, second-best in the NFL.

* Arizona at Buffalo, Sunday, 10 a.m. -- The Cardinals blew a huge fourth-quarter lead and lost to San Francisco, then last week came back in the fourth quarter and stuffed the Seahawks. Which team shows up this time? The 1-5 Bills have their own problems. They are last in scoring with 77 points, only six teams average fewer yards and their running game ranks 24th.

** Cincinnati at Tennessee, Sunday, 10 a.m. -- The Titans can’t afford a 2-6 start, so this game is their season. They need a sound Steve McNair to show up, like the one who shared the most-valuable-player award last year with Manning, not the one whose quarterback rating is 28th out of 30. The Bengals counter with Rudi Johnson, the AFC’s eighth-leading rusher with 531 yards.

*** Indianapolis at Kansas City, Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Holmes will get a chance to keep his rushing lead over Martin, running against a porous Colt defense. Manning, who has thrown 17 touchdown passes and only three interceptions, had a jawing match with receiver Reggie Wayne, and Jacksonville scored on its last three possessions to win.

*** Jacksonville at Houston, Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Never before have the Texans been at .500 this late in the season, their third in the NFL. Quarterbacks David Carr of Houston and Byron Leftwich of the Jaguars are in a virtual dead heat -- 23 yards passing separate them -- so expect the defenses to settle the issue.

**** New York Giants at Minnesota, Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Culpepper has thrown five touchdown passes in three games, and Randy Moss is probably going to play, so there may be more in the offing. Giant quarterback Kurt Warner has thrown only four touchdown passes in six games, but Tiki Barber is second in the NFC in yards rushing.

*** Green Bay at Washington, Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Packer quarterback Brett Favre is back in form, but the Redskins had last week off and have the NFL’s top-rated defense to try to keep retread Coach Joe Gibbs from falling to 2-5.

**** Atlanta at Denver, Sunday, 1:05 p.m. -- Someone is going to get redemption. The Falcons lost by 46 points to the Chiefs, and the Broncos were upended by feeble Cincinnati.

* Carolina at Seattle, Sunday, 1:05 p.m. -- The defending NFC champion Panthers are 1-5, and Jake Delhomme is far from the playoff quarterback of last year. The Seahawks started 3-0, then went 0-3, and Matt Hasselbeck has slumped at quarterback.

** Detroit at Dallas, Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Dallas, at 2-4, is giving up 26 points a game and scoring only 17.8, so there are problems on both sides of the ball. The 4-2 Lions seem to have two new stars in quarterback Joey Harrington and receiver Roy Williams, plus they’re coming off a 28-13 victory over the Giants.

* Oakland at San Diego, Sunday, 1:15 p.m. -- It is conceivable that after this game, the Raiders will be 2-6 and will have lost five in a row. Kerry Collins is the lowest-rated passer in the NFL. The Chargers rely on LaDainian Tomlinson and hope their defense holds together.

* San Francisco at Chicago, Sunday, 5:30 p.m. -- The game will be played under the lights, but it should be played under a blanket. Each team is 1-5. No team has fumbled more than the 49ers, and the Bears average 14.2 points a game,

** Miami at New York Jets, Monday, 6 p.m. -- This looks to be a mismatch. The Dolphins were winless until last week, their offense ranks 28th and Jay Fiedler is second to last in quarterback ratings. Miami’s defense will be tested by Jet quarterback Chad Pennington throwing the ball and Martin running with it.