Star quarterback Michael Vick was supposed to match wits with the Colts' Peyton Manning. This was before Vick was indicted on dogfighting charges in August and suspended from the NFL. He currently turned himself into authorities to begin serving his time early before his Dec. 10 hearing.

The Falcons have picked up Byron Leftwich to help with the slack, but he has not produced like they hoped.

Manning and the Colts have had a tough three weeks, losing two out of three games. Prior to that, they were 7-0. Manning leads a prolific offense which is top ten in four offensive categories: scoring (3rd), total yards (3rd), passing yards (6th) and rushing yards (9th).

Running back Joseph Addai has truly come into his own this year and keeps the defense honest for Manning's aerial attacks to Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison.

The reigning Super Bowl champions did lose their star player, Dwight Freeney, for the season with a Lisfranc injury in his foot. The Pro Bowl player has been replaced with former Pro Bowler Simeon Rice. The Colts defense is one of the league's best, equipped with the league's third-best total defense and sixth-best scoring defense.

The Atlanta Falcons have not been able to recover from the loss of Vick. As last year's league-leading rushing offense with dual-threat Vick, they are just 20th in the league this year and second-to-last in scoring offense. - Source: Transworld News