Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor ran for 131 yards against the Indianapolis Colts yesterday, and he wasn’t even the leading rusher on his team. Maurice Jones-Drew picked up 166 as Jacksonville crushed Indianapolis and made the most emphatic statement of any NFL team on an afternoon when the Colts and New England Patriots saw their fortunes fall.

The Colts have Super Bowl aspirations, but their porous defense makes them unlikely to get there. After starting the season 9–0, Indianapolis has lost three of its last four, and in all three losses its defense was completely outplayed. Yesterday, Taylor and Jones-Drew both had more than 100 yards before halftime, and by the close of Jacksonville’s 44–17 win, the Jaguars had gained 375 yards on the ground.

Taylor’s first run of the game went 76 yards. Jones-Drew’s first was an 18-yard touchdown. Things didn’t get much better for the Colts. Indianapolis led 10–7 with six minutes left in the second quarter, but Taylor and Jones-Drew each scored touchdowns shortly thereafter, and when Jones-Drew returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a 93-yard touchdown, Jacksonville led 31–10 and had the game in hand.

Peyton Manning played badly by his standards, finishing 25-of-50 for 313 yards, with no touchdown passes and one interception. But the Colts’ biggest problem on offense was the line’s inability to get any traction against Jacksonville’s front four. Indianapolis center Jeff Saturday rarely even budged Jacksonville defensive tackles John Henderson and Marcus Stroud, and as a result the Colts finished the game with 20 carries for 34 yards.

Indianapolis is 10–3 and still has both a two-game lead and the tiebreaker edge over Jacksonville in the AFC South, meaning the Colts would have to collapse completely not to win their division. That’s unlikely, but anyone who saw them yesterday would have to think it’s possible.

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The only good news for the Colts yesterday was that the New England Patriots looked every bit as bad as they did in losing 21–0 to the Miami Dolphins. New England dropped to 9–4, so if the two teams meet in the playoffs, the game will likely take place in Indianapolis.

But neither Indianapolis nor New England should think that far ahead right now. Much like the Colts, the Patriots’ offensive line struggled all day. New England left tackle Matt Light had a particularly bad game against Miami defensive end Jason Taylor, and Miami put consistent pressure on Tom Brady, sacking him five times and causing him to finish the day with a horrid passing line: 12 of 25 for 78 yards, plus two fumbles. The Patriots had three turnovers and have had 11 in the last three weeks.

As bad as New England’s offense looked, the defense was worse, as a bunch of mediocre Miami players had big games. Running back Sammy Morris had 25 carries for 123 yards. Wide receiver Marty Booker caught eight passes for 103 yards. Quarterback Joey Harrington completed 18 of 30 passes for 190 yards, with a touchdown and no turnovers.

New England did force Miami to punt six times, but Miami punter Donnie Jones may have been the game’s most valuable player. Jones landed three punts inside New England’s 5-yard line and forced the Patriots to play on a long field all day. At 6–7, the Dolphins are highly unlikely to make the postseason, but they showed yesterday that they can still affect the playoff race. The Patriots don’t look good right now, but the Jets’ poor showing against Buffalo all but clinched the AFC East for New England.

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While the Colts and Patriots stumbled, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Kansas City Chiefs 20–10 and staked their claim to be called the best team in the league. Baltimore’s great defense harassed Chiefs quarterback Trent Green all day, as five different Ravens sacked him and safety Ed Reed intercepted him twice.

Quarterback Steve McNair had his best game in a Ravens uniform, completing 21 of 27 passes for 283 yards, with a touchdown and no turnovers. McNair hit a wide-open Mark Clayton for an 87-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter for the score that broke the game open.

Green went just 15-of-27 for 178 yards and had three turnovers, a bad outing that raises the question of whether Kansas City should start Damon Huard, who played well in the eight games Green missed with a concussion. The loss dropped the Chiefs to 7–6 and severely hurt their chances of earning a playoff spot. Like the Jets, Kansas City is now a game behind Cincinnati and Jacksonville in the AFC wild card race.

Baltimore’s defensive players (with linebacker Ray Lewis the most vocal among them) have said for years that as soon as they had a good quarterback, they would be the best team in football. In McNair, the Ravens have that quarterback, and they might be the NFL’s best team. They’re at least in the conversation, along with the San Diego Chargers, who beat the Denver Broncos yesterday, and the Chicago Bears, who play the St. Louis Rams tonight. For most of this season, that conversation also would have included the Colts and Patriots. But not anymore.

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After the Giants’ victory over the Carolina Panthers put them in the lead in the NFC wild card race, the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons established themselves as the Giants’ primary opposition.

The key play in Atlanta’s 17–6 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came in the third quarter, when defensive end John Abraham forced a fumble that linebacker Demorrio Williams returned 54 yards for a touchdown. Before that play Tampa Bay held a 6–0 lead, but Atlanta dominated the rest of the way. Running backs Warrick Dunn and Jerious Norwood both left the game with apparently minor injuries, but fullback Justin Griffith replaced them and ran 12 times for 57 yards and a touchdown, all in the second half.

The Eagles looked totally out of it two weeks ago. They had lost five of six games, and quarterback Donovan McNabb was out for the season with a knee injury. But Jeff Garcia has proven himself to be a competent replacement for McNabb. He completed 15 of 23 passes for 164 yards, with two touchdowns and no turnovers in yesterday’s 21–19 win over the Washington Redskins. Although the Eagles need to improve their run defense (Washington’s Ladell Betts ran 33 times for 171 yards yesterday) they’re still a good team, even without McNabb.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.