I try to be a good Cowboys fan and always root against the Eagles, Giants and Redskins except when they play each other at which time I root against the team with the better record. Essentially, I root for the Cowboys to be in better position to win the division.

But I have to admit this Patriots vs. Redskins game has me a little torn.

On one hand, it is the Redskins, and I don’t root against them just because it is good for the Cowboys. I really enjoy rooting against the Redskins. In fact, about the only thing better than rooting against the Redskins is rooting against the Eagles.

On the other hand, I am getting sick and tired of hearing how wonderful the Patriots are and how they might go undefeated. Yeah, they are pretty good, I think that is a given. But their media coverage is reminding me of how the media drooled over USC, some even mentioning that they might be the best collage team ever, the result of which pretty much gave the Heisman to Reggie Bush.

The weeks leading up to the national championship I was thinking: Texas has a good shot at beating them. In fact, I thought it was pretty simple that Texas had a slight edge. They had a better defense. And while USC’s offense was good, Vince Young could match it, so the battle must come down to which defense made a crucial stop. Oddly enough, it did come down to the Texas defense making that final stop.

Now New England has taken over as the media darling with whispers of being perhaps the best team ever.

Am I the only one in America who thinks they are overrated?

Sure, their offense is good. It’s very good, and easily one of the best of all time. They could even shatter a couple of records. But, I am not sold on their defense. The one thing I came away from after the Dallas game was that, if they meet again in the Super Bowl, the Cowboys can beat them. New England didn’t stop our offense, penalties did.

One area New England seems weak in is run defense. They are 13th in the NFL in total rushing yards allowed, but 24th when you rank them by yards per carry. They are giving up a whopping 4.4 yards per carry. That’s not very good.

Is the high average a product of getting ahead in the score early and then playing the pass more than the run? Or, are they benefiting by getting ahead early and thus no one is exploiting their weakness against the run?

Tough to say, but I will say that Julius Jones and Marion Barber didn’t seem to have too many problems running the ball against them. And I do think the Patriots were paying attention to the Dallas running game.

The craziest part of all of the media attention is how little the media is focusing on the Colts. That might be a good thing for Indianapolis. Usually, the defending Super Bowl champions have to deal with all kinds of distractions. Not only has the media taken away many of those distractions, but they’ve given the Colts a reason to get angry over a seeming disrespect from the media.

After all, the Colts are undefeated. Not only that, but they’ve actually played against better teams than the Patriots. Dallas was probably the biggest test New England faced, and Dallas had a banged up secondary. New England is in the worst division in the AFC. The Colts are in the best division in the AFC, and perhaps the best division in football.

In a match up of the Patriots and the Colts, I might have to favor the Colts. The Patriots may very well have a better offense, but the Colts have a more balanced offense, and the Colts defense is playing much better than the Patriots defense. In the end, that game would probably come down to which defense can stop the other team.

As for this week and the Patriots vs. the Redskins. I might find myself rooting for the skins a little bit. If just to shut the media up. But, that would rob us of the battle of the undefeated Colts vs. Patriots. Plus, it would mean rooting for the skins, which makes my skin crawl.

Besides, while the Redskins secondary is one of the best in the NFL and may have a good shot at slowing down the Patriots, I’m don’t think their offense is good enough to score enough points.

And, hey, maybe I am the odd ball out on this one. Maybe I am the last person left in America that thinks the Patriots are overrated. What do you think?