Here is my look at some of the games, players and coaches for Week Eight.

Atlanta Falcons at the New Orleans Saints
The Saints have a pretty good team and they're really playing well right now. You kind of forget about 'em, but just a couple of years ago, they won the NFC West. It wasn't St. Louis or San Francisco that won that division; it was the Saints. Now, they're in the NFC South and that's a pretty good division. New Orleans can put points on the board, they have a solid defense and good special teams. They seem to have a lot of speed on offense and that's a big thing for them. Although I do believe it's too early to really know these things, they're maybe one of the top five or six teams in the NFL. I really like what they've done so far.

	Michael Vick had 297 yards in total offense last Sunday against Carolina.

Atlanta, on the other hand, doesn't have as good a team as the Saints, but the Falcons do have Michael Vick and he's a special player. He's one of those guys that you would pay to watch play. Heck, he could be the fastest guy in the NFL. For years I remember when it was thought that Darrell Green was the fastest guy. And then Deion Sanders was the fastest guy. Then Randy Moss was maybe the fastest guy. Well, I bet right now, Vick is the fastest guy. He's so much fun to watch because he can pass it, or he can run then pass it, or he can just run it, and he makes a lot of things happen when the football's in his hands.

This is a team game, and collectively, New Orleans is the better team, but this should be a pretty doggone good game.

Pittsburgh Steelers at the Baltimore Ravens
This game is for first place in the AFC North. Pittsburgh got off to a bad start, but now the Steelers are playing better. Their 3-3 record is kind of disappointing, but they seem to be getting some things together. They've made some adjustments that have helped them. On defense, they're playing more nickel and dime packages and they're matching up better when you try and spread 'em out. They had trouble with that at the beginning of the season. Offensively, they're running the ball with success, and Tommy Maddox has replaced Kordell Stewart at quarterback, and he's playing well. The team has confidence in him and he has confidence in himself and they're a different team on offense now. But Jerome Bettis hurt his knee on Monday night against Indianapolis and he's going to miss this game.

The Ravens have done a good job after a slow start to their season, too. It had looked like they were going to take this year off because of the salary cap and all of that stuff. They had lost a lot of players from last season. Well, they're playing hard and they're playing tough. They're playing some great defense, led by middle linebacker Ray Lewis. That defense has played without him the last couple of games, though, and it is still playing great. Every time you think of Baltimore, you think of team play. The Ravens are all about playing like a team. Quarterback Chris Redman is getting better and Jamal Lewis is a heckuva running back. The Ravens have some pretty good ingredients there, and as a team they play very well together.

The Steelers had their way the last couple of weeks, playing against the defenses of Cincinnati and Indianapolis. They're going to have a much tougher test this weekend against Baltimore's defense. This one's going to be a close, tight game.

Denver Broncos at the New England Patriots
This is a game that could be a real interesting one. New England had that great run at the end of last season right through winning the Super Bowl. Then they got off to a real good start this season, and you thought, "Jeez, they haven't lost a step from last season!" But now they look to be beatable and they have been beaten. They've had problems on defense -- especially against the run -- and their offense isn't moving the ball the way they were the first three games of the season. I think they had gotten away from what they really were, but they're coming off of a bye week and they've had a couple of weeks to work on things. It'll be interesting to see how they come out of that bye week.

Denver's having a good season so far. I did the Broncos game against Baltimore at the end of last month and they played lousy. They've come back, though, and won some big games. They're coming off of two tough games in a row, against Miami and Kansas City. They lost to the Dolphins at the end of the game on a field goal by Olindo Mare and they beat the Chiefs in overtime last Sunday. As a coach you hate to be in those games that go right down to the end of the fourth quarter or in to overtime, but it is good for your team. A lot of times when two good teams play each other, it comes down to how you play in the fourth quarter. I think this could be one of those games that will come down to how each team plays in the fourth quarter. And the Broncos, in their last two games, has had quite a bit of experience in how you play in the fourth quarter and that should help them.

Indianapolis Colts at the Washington Redskins
One thing about the Colts is that they really haven't gotten started yet. Yeah, they have Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James and Marvin Harrison on offense, but that whole thing isn't clicking. I'm not sure if it's James not being all the way back from that knee injury he suffered last October. If it's not that, then maybe it's the offensive line not protecting Manning. The Colts do have those three guys, but they aren't effective right now and they haven't been effective this season.

	Steve Spurrier has been frustrated by his team's quarterback play.

I think Washington head coach Steve Spurrier is getting kind of frustrated because he doesn't really have a guy yet at quarterback. Shane Matthews is starting again, after rookie Patrick Ramsey started the last couple of games. When you keep changing then you aren't really satisfied with anything. You think this is the answer for now and you try that guy, and then you find out he's not the answer so you try another guy, and he's not the answer, so you realize that you really don't have a guy for right now. So then you start the rotation all over again. Ramsey may be the guy, but you just don't know that. That position is a problem area for the Redskins. They might have to do things a different way than Spurrier is used to. That is, running the ball and ball-control and more of the play-action pass, and then let the defense do some things. They might have to do those kinds of things.

Indianapolis is a little small on defense and you can maybe wear 'em down. This might be one of those games where Washington can get some darn running going with Stephen Davis and the offensive line, and kind of blow the Colts' defense back a little rather than throwing the ball on every down. Let Davis and the line try to take over the game. And that's the way to play against Indianapolis' defense.

The Redskins are 2-4, and in last place in the NFC East. That's one of the things that has to be looked at. The talk about Washington is about Spurrier, and him coming there from college, and who the quarterback is going to be and I think that's deflecting from how the team's doing. It's a team game, and at some point, you have to look at where they're in the division. Do they have a chance to come out of this and get ahead of Dallas and get ahead of the New York Giants, and then try to take on Philadelphia? Is that something that's going to happen to the Redskins this year or are they just going to stay there in fourth place? Their record isn't talked about and where they are in the division isn't talked about. That's more important than the other stuff.

Oakland Raiders at the Kansas City Chiefs
Oakland's lost its last two games after playing so well to start the season. The Raiders had a problem last season in stopping the run, and that's kind of seeping back in now. Two Sundays ago they had to face St. Louis' Marshall Faulk, and he's something very special. Last Sunday they had to face San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson. Now, they have to play Kansas City and Priest Holmes. At some point they have to prove that they can handle these running backs. Heck, it doesn't get any easier for them -- going from Faulk to Tomlinson to Holmes. Those are three great backs. If the Raiders can't stop the run then the play-action pass works against them, and they have to bring guys up in the box to try and stop the run and then the passing is easier for the other team's offense. Holmes is the real thing and he runs behind a very good offensive line. That's what the Chiefs are about on offense.

Oakland can score on offense with Rich Gannon and Jerry Rice and Charlie Garner. Gannon has looked sharp and Rice is still making big plays. The big guy on that team is Garner. The offense doesn't have much speed other than him, and he's important to what they do. That offense is going to move the ball against Kansas City, but the Raiders' defense has to be able to stop the run. They haven't done that the last two weeks.

Arizona Cardinals at the San Francisco 49ers

	Adrian Wilson and the Cardinals defense has helped Arizona start out 4-2.

The Cardinals have been a real surprise after seven weeks. They're now in the NFC West, so this becomes a division game. Before the season, when you looked at this division, who would have thought that the Cardinals would be tied for first place at this point in the season. Heck, you had St. Louis, San Francisco and Seattle in there, and you would have thought that the 49ers would be fighting the Rams for first place. And here it is Arizona playing San Francisco for first place. At some point, you have to say that the Cardinals are playing some pretty good football.

The 49ers are a real good team. I was impressed with how they played -- and beat -- the Seahawks on the road two Mondays ago. Then they had a short week before having to play at New Orleans last Sunday. They were winning for most of that game before the Saints came back. Going in, I had thought that that would be a real tough game for them, but they played well in New Orleans. Now, they come home to play Arizona in another big game.

San Francisco has a young, aggressive defense and quarterback Jeff Garcia is getting into a rhythm again. Terrell Owens is a heckuva wide receiver and they can throw running backs Garrison Hearst and Kevan Barlow at you. They have quite a few things going for them on offense. The Cardinals are a surprise team, record-wise, but I don't think they're in the class of the 49ers right now.

New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles (ABC, Monday, 9 p.m. ET)
It always seems to be a close game when these teams play each other. Philadelphia won both meetings last season -- and they were tight games. Before that, New York had a pretty good record against them and they would always make the Eagles one-dimensional on offense, so that quarterback Donovan McNabb had to try and make every play.

Last year, though, the Philadelphia wide receivers played better -- especially James Thrash -- and the Eagles ran the ball pretty well. Those things that had been a problem against the Giants' defense in the past didn't seem to be as big a problem last season. A big thing to watch in this game is the matchup between Philadelphia tackle Jon Runyan and New York defensive end Michael Strahan. Another thing to watch is how the Giants' offense handles the blitz, because the Eagles blitz a lot. That's what they're all about on defense.

Look for my complete preview on Friday at ALLMADDEN.com.