Despite Capt. Pat Murphy’s attempts to ingratiate himself with my editor, who is a dyed-in-the-wool New York Giants fan, I beg to differ and don’t think Big Blue will beat the Minnesota Vikings Sunday.

Now that I’ve alienated most of the post, I’ll get all the rabid Oakland Raiders fans against me as well. The Baltimore Ravens will win, too.

Giants fans will taunt me. But what I am worried about are the few Raiders fans I know, who will remain nameless. They both know where I live. I could be endangering my family here.

Seriously now, at least for a minute, I would really like to see the Giants in the big game. If New York were to beat Minnesota, I would probably have to repeatedly explain to people -- politely, of course -- that, no, Giants defensive coordinator John Fox is not my father. They just share the same name.

Unfortunately, I think the Vikings offense is going to be a little too much for the Giants to hold back.

The thing I dread most, is that if Minnesota wins, we will all be subjected to a seemingly unending two-week deluge of information about all of Vikings’ wide receiver Randy Moss’ current and past transgressions.

The worst part will be that they will probably dredge up the clips of him hurdling Army football players en route to a 90-yard TD back in the 1997 opener at Michie Stadium.

Back to my version of reality for a moment . . . both games Sunday have the potential to be very good.

The Oakland-Baltimore game could get pretty ugly as the two slug it out in what may turn out to be a defensive slugfest.

Look for the Ravens defense and special teams to again supplement the offense with a few points.

Another key may be the kicking game where the Ravens Matt Stover will out duel "Gus the kicking mule," I mean, the Raiders Sebastian Janikowski.

Rich Gannon, the Black & Silver quarterback will be hard pressed to withstand the pressure he is sure to face from Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis and his cohorts.

The Raiders top-ranked running game is misleading. They can be stopped and the Ravens defense is up to the task.

Despite Raider uber-receiver Tim Brown’s best efforts, it won’t be enough.

Ravens quarterback Trent Dilfer, if not forced to make too many plays on his own, will be able to direct an efficient, if not spectacular, offense behind the likes of tight end Shannon Sharpe, rookie running back Jamal Lewis and wide receiver Qadry Ismail.

What it comes down to is that the Ravens will make fewer mistakes than the Raiders. When the Raiders make mistakes, they lose. If they play their game, they win. They haven’t faced a defense anything like what they are going to see Sunday.

As far as Minnesota and New York go, it will be a coming out party of sorts for Dennis Green’s Vike’s. Running back Robert Smith should finally get his due when the Vikes salt the game away late.

Minnesota second-year quarterback Daunte Culpepper has shown maturity beyond his years and at six-foot four-inches and 266 pounds, he is a load to bring down. A corner blitz might not be enough to take down this moose. The Giants have to force him into making mistakes, not to mention try to keep Moss and fellow receiver Cris Carter out of the endzone.

Yes, the Vikings defense is suspect. But their offense is explosive enough to just plain overcome their defensive shortcomings.

Believe me I want Giants quarterback Kerry Collins and his crew to have a field day, but I just don’t see them being able to keep pace.

Having two banged up offensive weapons doesn’t help either. Giants running back Tiki Barber, who played with a broken arm that the Philadelphia Eagles couldn’t quite capitalize on, is still less than 100 percent. Giants’ wide receiver Joe Jurevicius is nursing a knee injury that could limit Collins’ targets even more.

That’s a lot to expect from Ike Hilliard, Amani Toomer, Ron Dixon and Pete Mitchell.

I hope that Big Blue can get rookie Heisman Trophy-winning running back Ron Dayne to plow forward and punch holes in the Vikings defense.