The Nickel Package

Sean Morey, Pittsburgh, WR

* Brown alum’s stats: Seven seasons, three teams, one reception.

*--* 5 IVY LEAGUERS

*--*

Jim Finn, New York Giants, FB

* Punisher from Penn, an ex-Colt, has blocked for both Mannings.

Seth Payne, Houston, NT

* It must have hurt Payne, from Cornell, to lose to the Rams’ Harvard man.

Marcellus Wiley, Jacksonville, DE

* Columbia grad Wiley is one of the league’s best quotes.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, St. Louis, QB

* Last Sunday became the first from Harvard to throw an NFL pass.

*--* 5 WHERE SNAP IS NO SNAP

*--*

* St. Louis -- Rams have been flagged a league-high 30 times for false starts.

* Oakland -- Too-slow-on-the-draw Raiders have nine delay-of-game penalties.

* Miami -- Hyper Dolphin defenders have jumped offsides 13 times.

* Detroit -- Lions have been offsides 13 times too, more than twice the league average.

* San Francisco -- 49ers are only team with no offsides penalties; sign of a sleepy defense?

*--* 5 TELLING STATISTICS

*--*

* Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer has recorded a pass efficiency rating of 100 or better in 13 of his last 15 games; the two games he didn’t were both against Pittsburgh.

* Seven of Dallas’ 11 games have been decided in the fourth quarter or in overtime.

* Chicago has won its last four home games, allowing no touchdowns and fewer than 10 points in each. The Bears are looking to win five consecutive home games in the same season for the first time since 1990.

* Minnesota’s defense has 15 takeaways and 13 sacks in the last four games; it recorded just 10 takeaways and 10 sacks in the first seven.

* Denver’s Jake Plummer is 0-4 in Kansas City, with a 56.8 rating and seven interceptions.

Source: STATS LLC

*--* 5 STARS: COLT KILLERS?

*--*

***** San Diego -- The Chargers might be required to win at Indianapolis to keep their playoff hopes alive.

**** Jacksonville -- Would have been a much tougher road game if Byron Leftwich were playing.

*** Seattle -- The meaningless factor? Both teams should have home-field advantage for the playoffs sewn up by their Dec. 24 meeting.

** Tennessee -- Titans are overmatched, but, with a division game, anything can happen.

* Arizona -- Even if the Colts play their backups, they have the firepower to win this regular-season finale.

*--* 5 LOCKS

*--*

* Tampa Bay over New Orleans -- Saints are 1-4 at home -- wherever that is.

* Indianapolis over Tennessee -- Even with McNair looking good, the Titans can’t hang with the Colts.

* New England over New York Jets -- Champs still have some mojo at home, bad defense and all.

* Seattle over Philadelphia -- Way back when, this looked like a marquee matchup.

* San Diego over Oakland -- This is always a brutally violent game