Alright, it's a holiday week so my columns are going to be a bit shorter. And by "a bit" I mean "a lot". No worries, though. I only have so much time this week, which will be focused on making my selections (which are going to be posted Wednesday). The rest of my time will be spent on a plethora of standard holiday traditions: watching my wife and in-laws make Christmas cookies for seven hours knowing I could be watching college basketball, dodging people I never liked in high school, kicking it with my nephews and thanking the Lord I don't have kids, arguing with rental car and airline employees, eating, and drinking heavily with the people I did like in high school.

Don't feel like you're getting short-changed. I'll be back with a vengeance over the next few weeks. But in the meantime, here are a few quick-hit thoughts for the past weekend in the NFL football:

- Peyton Manning's kryptonite is clearly the 3-4 defense. That bodes very badly for the Colts if they run into that team out in San Diego.

- I will admit that team out in San Diego is good, but I really can't say as to how good they are. It is a credit to them that they win, but the manner in which they win still means something to me.

- The AFC is completely and totally dominating the NFC. They are 17-4 ATS and most of the games haven't been close.

- New England has won its last four road games by an average of 26.5 points.

- LaDainian Tomlinson has outscored Denver. Not on Sunday - though he did that too - but on the season. LT's 22 touchdowns are more than the Broncos have managed all year.

- Vintage Jake Plummer meltdown - that interception late in the fourth quarter was brutal. But what was worse was the sack he took which essentially ended the game. After the Chargers had gift-wrapped an opportunity to send it to overtime (not milking the clock, not going for two after they scored, penalties) until Plummer made that rookie mistake.

- The Cincinnati-New Orleans game and the Indianapolis-Dallas game proved once again that betting against public perception is a moneymaker. Everyone saw four high-powered offenses that were going to fill up the scoreboard, which drove the totals up near 50 in each game. Needless to say, both fell easily under.

- Before the Bears-Giants game two weeks ago I was discussing the Bernard Berrian situation with a fellow Chicago fan. The first thing I said: "I hope they start Mark Bradley. Do you remember him from last year? That guy can play." Needless to say, I received a one-word text message from my friend yesterday. It said, simply, "Bradley."

- That's three in a row for the resurgent 49ers. Discounting that debacle in the Windy City, San Fran is giving up an average of 10 points per game since reverting back to their 4-3 base defense. Memo to Mike Nolan: don't try to go 3-4 next year. Or ever.

- The Falcons are in a free fall. They cannot stop anyone with that defense and the hillbillies will be out with their pitchforks and torches down in the not-so-Peachy South.

- You think St. Louis missed Orlando Pace? Seven sacks and 111 total yards says they do.

- Is DeAngelo Williams the missing link? I'm going with no. Carolina will not be able to run the ball against any defense only slightly better than the wet paper towel unit that St. Louis has.

- Aaron Rogers needs to lose the soul patch. So does Mike "Norwood" Vanderjagt.

- Baltimore is averaging 28 points per game since cutting the cord with Jim Fassel.

- J.P. Losman is not nearly as bad people think. He's playing behind a spotty line with second-rate wideouts, and has been for two seasons. I think they can build around this kid.

- No one can score in this league anymore. Over the course of the past two weeks teams are 11-21 against the total. At first I blamed it on the plethora of journeymen and first-year starters at quarterback. But then I realized that it was Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Chad Pennington throwing interceptions in the end zone. I mean, seriously, can anyone score?

- I love the holidays!

Questions or comments for Robert? E-mail him at robert@docsports.com or check out his Insider Page here.