So, let’s make it short and sweet.

CIN at HOU: Houston sputtered down the stretch. I expect Gary Kubiak to get back to basics and run, run, run Arian Foster and Ben Tate time and again. Wade Phillips will have the defense dialed up to make things difficult for Andy Dalton. I’ll take the home team.

DET at NO: I picked New Orleans to crash the party in Indianapolis before the season. I see no reason to abandon that selection now. Brees and company are clicking on all cylinders, with Darren Sproles playing the role of “Firestarter.” Go ahead and make the video mix to his highlights – just give me a little nod for planting the idea. My gut says that Gregg Williams’ secondary gets active today to frustrate Stafford. New Orleans advances.

ATL at NYG: I hear all of the chatter about the 2007 playoff run for the Giants and a possible repeat scenario. Two things have to happen in this game to get that road started. First, the Giants can’t leave balls on the carpet as they did for much of the season (drops played a huge role). Second, the Giants will need to get pressure on Matt Ryan from the front four. If they need to bring extra bodies to try and disrupt the passing game, the depleted secondary will be abused as it was for much of the season. I fear the sight of Julio Jones sprinting free and clear in the secondary, but expect the salsa-dancing Victor Cruz (burn some calories during the game and win the ladies’ hearts by practicing) will match him. Giants advance.

PIT at DEN: Most people I’ve talked to this week have given the Broncos little to no chance of defending their home turf as heavy underdogs. The absences of Maurkice Pouncey, Rashard Mendenhall and Ryan Clark shouldn’t be dismissed altogether, and lest we forget, Ben Roethlisberger is still hobbled. My thoughts go out to Pittsburgh running back coach Kirby Wilson, who was injured in fire in his home.

For the Broncos to win this game, it is incumbent upon Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil to get pressure on Roethlisberger and try to force the action. The myriad speed options available to Roethlisberger will be too much for the Denver secondary.

Offensively, I do believe that the Broncos will need to push downfield more, as John Elway suggested earlier in the week. Unless the Broncos mix it up early (maybe some play-action), it could be a long day. The master, Dick LeBeau, will crush the Broncos if they follow the predictable formula.

Harmon breaks down the particulars of NO-GB. Fantasy thoughts and a game prediction.

Sure, there were a few oddball questions, a minor security skirmish and more references to the Kardashians than should have been allowed in the prescribed session time.

The throng of international media obviously gravitated to Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning, who gave you what you expect from Peyton Manning. “They’re a talented defense. They can obviously score points.” And so on …

Obviously, I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the point. You’re not going to get anything inflammatory out of Manning. Actually, you’re not getting anything inflammatory from any of these guys.

The “remember me” hits quote from the “dead” week is about as exciting a quote as you’re going to find this week. I’m still questioning why so much was made of it.

• Was it just because it was a slow news time?

• Or, did people just want to make it into something more than the same, but much less sexy, “we need to pressure Peyton” line that sent the same message?

I suspect that it’s a combination of the two. Gregg Williams and Sean Payton aren’t going to say. “Hey, we plan on taking 45 yards of penalties on three late hits to try and injure him.” They aren’t going to say that their goal is to hurt Manning (although, by definition, isn’t that part of this tackle football game?).

They WILL talk about playing to the whistle. They WILL talk about following through on hits.

I understand the desire and need to talk about Dwight Freeney’s injury. After all, it’s the only “real” story to debate in the early-week chatter. But, let’s be real. The Colts aren’t going to definitively say anything about his injury.

You get the words “try” and “treatment” and 1,000 other descriptions of how he’s getting ready. I appreciated his ability to smile and answer the one million permutations of that question, recognizing the need of each local writer to have their voice associated with asking that question to please their editors.

In the end, we know as much as we did when the first report of Freeney’s injury came out. He might go. He might not. And now, we’ll spend five days talking about the ability of the Saints to deploy an extra receiver if he doesn’t go.

We’ll talk about DeMarcus Ware’s big effort when the Cowboys ended the Saints’ perfect season and how the Saints “won’t be fooled again.” (Do you like that?)

In the interim, I’m going to find the real stories from South Beach.

What’s Kim Kardashian wearing to the parties?

The Vikings moved the ball well. They played solid defense.

In the end, the Saints won in the only statistical category that matters in the NFL universe. The Vikings gave the ball up. Again … and again … and again.

Brett Favre’s interception brought back images of his last championship game and that “will he or won’t he?” talk started up .000001 seconds after Hartley’s field goal went through the uprights.

As Favre moved out of the pocket and threw back across his body, I had flashbacks to a memorable scene in “Natural Born Killers.” Yeah, that’s right. I’m busting out the ultra-violent film from the mid-90s.

For the uninitiated, there’s a scene in the film where Woody Harrelson is holding court and pacing back and forth. He’s telling a bawdy joke to the guards charged with containing his sociopathic Mickey Knox character in a holding cell. Knox is about to be interviewed by Wayne Gale (remember when nobody wanted Robert Downey, Jr.?). Anyway, he rolls through and has the guards chuckling when he approaches the big finish …

 “Little Johnny! What were you doing? Little Johnny … little Johnny, no!”

That’s where the similarities end, as Harrelson’s Knox grabs a shotgun and proceeds to shoot the guards. Well, perhaps it was almost the same. Favre fired his gun, but he misfired.

 Will he reload for another run? It’s way too early to tell, but my gut says that this wasn’t his last rodeo. Favre posted one of the finest regular seasons of his career and this entire unit will be back for another run. And Chilly is still there.

 You just can’t go down “acting like a fool with your pants on the ground.”