Watch New York Giants vs Dallas Cowboys Live Online - NFL Playoffs Preview

It will be huge. As explosive as Dallas has been all season, the Cowboys owe a great deal of their success to the fact that Owens remains one of the elite receivers in the NFL. The bottom line is that when he's on the field, he makes life easier for everybody else on offense. Without him, quarterback Tony Romo isn't likely to play with the same swagger and the Cowboys' offense isn't going to be chewing up yardage by the chunks.

Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said Monday that T.O. is a "game-time decision." He apparently has been rehabilitating his high ankle sprain so relentlessly that he was meeting with trainers on Christmas Day and New Year's. If we had to wager, we'd assume Owens will be dressed Sunday. His ankle probably won't be 100 percent -- such injuries tend to linger -- but his presence alone makes all the difference for the Cowboys' offense.

There's still good reason to be skeptical of Manning -- mainly because he was playing lousy during the final month of the regular season -- but the Giants have to love what they've seen from him lately.

Aside from one critical interception, Manning played brilliantly in a season-ending loss to New England and he was equally impressive in Sunday's wild-card win over Tampa Bay (20-for-27 for 185 yards and two touchdowns). If he can perform that well against Dallas, the Giants could very well pull the upset.

Remember, Manning enjoyed a huge day against Dallas in a season-opening loss (312 yards, four touchdowns, one interception). He was mediocre in the rematch, but the Dallas defense can give up big plays.

The key here is how well the Giants protect Manning and how well he makes decisions. One thing that is definitely certain is that he won't lack for confidence heading into this contest.

Watch San Diego Chargers vs Indianapolis Colts Live Online - NFL Playoffs Preview

The San Diego Chargers are right back where they were a year ago, headed into a divisional playoff game. But somehow this feels different.

Perhaps it's because they just won a playoff game for the first time in 13 years.

Perhaps it's because they're going to play Indianapolis, a team they beat the last two times they played.

Perhaps it's because their young quarterback, Philip Rivers, finally played a big game at a big time to beat a defense that was putting all its attention on stopping LaDainian Tomlinson and daring Rivers to win the game with his arm.

Or, perhaps, it's all of the above.

But we'll go mostly with No. 3, because that's the biggest development.

On Sunday, the Chargers beat the Tennessee Titans 17-6. The Titans were missing four starters because of recent injuries, and their quarterback, Vince Young, was missing some of his mobility due to a quad injury.

So beating them, perhaps, was no big deal. It was expected. The unexpected part was how the Chargers did it.

"We executed our game plan," said Tennessee linebacker Keith Bulluck. "We wanted Philip Rivers to beat us. I think he did a good job of that."

"I think that's been the (defensive) strategy for 34 games that I've been here, and I don't think that strategy is going to change as long as (Tomlinson) is here," Rivers said.

True enough, and the only way the Chargers can change that approach by their opponents is for Rivers to have more games like this one.

With San Diego trailing 6-0 at halftime and with Tomlinson limited to 6 yards on his first seven carries, Rivers directed drives of 86, 78 and 72 yards on the Chargers' first three possessions of the second half. After halftime, he completed 12 of 17 passes for 194 yards. He finished with 292 yards, including five completions of at least 25 yards.