Your author expends a lot of effort in acting disinterested in these previews, which is both a pretense to objectivity and actual honesty. But while it’s hard to get too psyched about the Rams and 49ers ruining each others’ Sundays, there are a few games that undeniably get our fan-juices flowing. Which is a disgusting-looking cluster of words, admittedly, but by which we mean only (really: only) that, despite our work-required immersion in the mediocre and un-fun teams that populate much of the NFL, watching two good football teams play is still pretty fun. This is inarguably one of those, and if only for the opportunity to watch two of the NFL’s best defenses do their thing, we think this is the week’s only true must-watch.

What sets these two great defenses apart from the NFL’s other best units — the brutish Vikings defense and the star-reliant Steelers squad — is that they’re actually as enjoyable to watch and creatively coached as any offense. Ravens coordinator Rex Ryan puts a lot of trust in Ray Lewis, who’s playing as well as he has in years, which is a nice thing to be able to do. But the rest of the Ravens defense is stocked with players whose savvy and athleticism are well utilized in Ryan’s protean schemes. The Giants are pretty reliant on their brilliant defensive line, which again is pretty okay considering how good that defensive line is. Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo moves players on and off the line in a manner that disorients offenses enough that they can’t take advantage of the Giants’ dodgy secondary. With the loss of starting CB Chris McAllister and S Dawan Landry to the IR, the Ravens will attempt the same trick this week.

If it were only the defenses deciding this game, though, it would be pretty boring: the equivalent of those foul-and-scowl Knicks/Heat basketball games from the late ’90s. But while there will surely be some personal fouls and game-face scowls in this one — or, more accurately, freaky-intense-face-with-crazy-eyes action from Ray Lewis — what makes both these teams so tough is the fact that they have better than just-good-enough offenses that complement their dominant defenses.

This, obviously, was not the case in Baltimore even when the team was winning its Super Bowl (over the Giants) during the salad days of the Billick Administration. The departure of Billick cost the NFL one of its true iron-jawed nuts, but gave the Ravens an opportunity to start playing offense for the first time in nearly a decade. Cam Cameron was hired as Baltimore’s offensive coordinator fresh off a stock-destroying year at the helm of last year’s 1-15 Dolphins, but he has slowly built the Ravens offense into a creative, clock-devouring unit that has been stunningly good over its last few games. The running game is still the central facet of Baltimore’s offense — a model that may not necessarily work against the Giants excellent D-Line — but with rookie QB Joe Flacco growing increasingly comfortable and a grab-bag of gadget plays, including option schemes and multi-quarterback backfields, the Ravens are no longer an easy offense for opposing defenses to game-plan for.

The Giants offense is no fun for anyone, really, but that seems to be Kevin Gilbride’s point. With pouty playmaker Plaxico Burress making a play to be the first man ever put on IR with “idiocy,” the Giants offense has shrunk into an increasingly predictable pattern of short passes and power runs. It’s dull, but it has worked, and RB Brandon Jacobs has shown flashes of unstoppability over recent weeks. That doesn’t mean the ace tacklers on the Ravens defense won’t be able to stop Jacobs — we’d give Ray Lewis a 50/50 chance at stopping an angry hippopotamus in the open field — but it at least gives Baltimore something to worry about while Eli Manning attacks their injury-depleted secondary.

How well Manning is able to do that will probably be the difference in the game, but we’re well past our ambivalence over this gape-mouthed goof. As long as the Giants offensive line continues to play at its current level, Manning and the Giants will be fine, and probably win. After spending half a season dominating weak teams, the Giants have looked excellent in recent tests against some very tough defenses. This is the toughest defense, and maybe the toughest test, that they’ve faced yet, and your author — and hopefully you, as well — is excited to watch it. Really. Seriously.

GIANTS BY 3