Something smells rotten to me about the circumstances, in this final week of the NFL regular season, that have established the Tennessee Titans as 6-1/2-point favorites over the Indianapolis Colts playing at home in Indy and the Washington Redskins a whopping 9-1/2-point favorite over the best team in the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys.

Both are critical games, with Tennessee and Washington needing wins to reach the playoffs. And both teams under normal circumstancers would be underdogs. But the crircumstances turn out to be anything but normal. Colts coach Tony Dungy and Cowboys coach Wade Phillips have both indicated that they intend to play their starting quartergacks, Peyton Manning and Tony Romo, on a limited basis at most, preferring to rest them as well as other key starters for the upcoming playoffs.

And the response from NFL and its pundits seems to be that these teams are entitled to do whatever they want. It is apparently irrelevant that the game means a great deal to Cleveland, Minnesota and New Orleans. Having already gained a playoff bye and with this week's game meaning nothing to them, the conventional wisdom around the league suggests that Colts and the Cowboys not only can, but apparently should do whatever is required in this final game to bolster their post-season prospects. And if that means resting Manning and Romo or anybody else, so be it. By dint of their records, they are said to have earned that right.

Let's take the Colts game for example. I happen to believe the Colts are not at all indifferent to the outcome of Sunday's game. In fact, I think Dungy and his staff would actually prefer to have Tennessee win and to reach the playoffs. That result would most likely send Tennessee on to play the San Diego Chargers in the wild-card game the next weekend. And it's reasonable to assume that the Titans, with their rugged defense ranked 5th in the league, would give the Chargers high-powered attack a stiffer contest than the Browns, with their 31st-ranked defense, or at the very least inflict a pounding on them, softening them up for their next opponent. Which in all likelihood will be Indy. And that's how a loss to Tennessee might come full circule to bolster the Colts in the playoffs.

So the Colts would appear to be operating strictly out of self-interest by losing on Sunday. Yet self-interest can be carried only so far. The Colts couldn't possibly announce their intention to deliberately lose the game without the NFL coming down hard. All they can apparently do is field a lineup that is far more likely to lose the game and hope for the best, or in this case the worst.

Tony Dungy is the moral pillar of the NFL and wouldn't do anything that he didn't believe was countenanced by league rules. Moreover, I'm not sure I could formulate a rule that would adequately cover this situation. Still, my gut feeling says there is something wrong when Tenneessee can punch its playoff ticket by going through Jim Sorgi and the Colts rather than Peyton Manning and company. Frankly, it smells rotten to me.