NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Tennessee Titans left tackle Brad Hopkins says everyone should watch Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts – even if it means skipping work.

“Those in Nashville and around the surrounding area should tell your boss, ‘I am going to the Titans-Colts game’ instead of asking for the day off,” Hopkins said, “because they will understand.”

He might just be right. Titans and Colts fans have had this AFC South showdown circled on the schedule all year.

The game features two of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, the Titans’ Steve McNair, the league’s top-rated passer, and the Colts’ Peyton Manning, who has thrown for more yards than anyone in the league.

Both teams are 9-3, tied atop the division, and the Colts turned the game into a grudge match by routing the Titans 33-7 in Indianapolis in September.

“Everybody understands the significance of this game, the fact that it’s become an instant rivalry,” Manning said.

The Colts have the second-best offense in the NFL, averaging 372.3 yards per game, and Manning can become the first quarterback in NFL history with 25 touchdown passes in six consecutive seasons if he gets two more on Sunday.

“Peyton’s a great quarterback,” McNair said. “I’m not going out there to try to outdo him. I’m going to try to outdo his defense.”

McNair has thrown for 20 TDs with only six interceptions, and he’s why the Titans are the NFL’s fifth-highest scoring team.

Tennessee has failed to top 30 or more points only twice in the past nine games.

But McNair hasn’t run quite as much this season, and the Titans rank only 27th in rushing with 95.8 yards per game.

Edgerrin James is the only running back this year to top 100 yards against the Titans, who have the NFL’s best rushing defense.

“If they can’t run, they can’t win,” Titans safety Lance Schulters said.

Both teams are coming off losses that may have ended their chances at home-field advantage through the playoffs.

Indianapolis was stopped four times at the goal line at home and lost 38-34 to the New England Patriots.

McNair played with a strained calf muscle in a 24-17 loss at the New York Jets.

Both teams trail Kansas City and New England in the overall AFC standings.

Sunday’s winner gets a one-game lead in the division, while the loser likely winds up opening the playoffs on the road.

“There’s an opportunity for whoever loses this game to still go ahead and win the division, but if whomever wins this game wins out, they win the division and control their own destiny,” Titans coach Jeff Fisher said.

Indianapolis was in the same position last season on this same weekend. The Colts lost, and their postseason eventually ended in a 41-0 wild-card rout by the New York Jets.

The Colts took a big step toward erasing their image as a soft team when they manhandled the Titans in September.

“It really doesn’t matter, other than the fact that we know we can beat them, and they know we can beat them,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said.

“I think we always believed we could beat them, but I don’t think they had that feeling. Now it is like a rivalry.”

The Colts already are banged-up, with 16 players on the injury report, though left tackle Tarik Glenn may play after missing six of seven games with a left knee problem.

He would face Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse who has been out most of the past three games with a sprained ankle. Kearse said the Titans know what they have to do.

“We’re trying to win this to even get in the playoffs,” he said.