Got big plans tonight? Taking the wife out for a nice dinner? Getting an early start on some Christmas shopping? Doing some last-minute door-to-door campaigning for Barack Obama, John McCain or Frank Cotton?

You know the Patriots play the Colts tonight, right? Did you forget? That’s OK. It’s an easy one to forget.

For once, it’s not the “Game of the Century!!!”

The Colts are 3-4 and Peyton Manning is playing like he has MRSA. The Patriots are 5-2 and their star quarterback actually has MRSA.

The only thing that isn’t infectious is America’s enthusiasm over what for most of this century has been the biggest rivalry in the NFL, if not all of sports.

There was bound to be a letdown after last season’s clash of undefeated titans. But the hype has been almost conspicuous in its absence this week, frankly, it is somewhat refreshing.

ESPN made a half-hearted attempt on its Web site early in the week by publishing some comments that Bill Belichick made about Peyton Manning about Manning’s injury status and crying in the headline that Belichick had taken a swipe at the Colts quarterback. It turns out that the comments seemed to be aimed more at the NFL and its dubious injury report. Nice try.

NBC probably wishes the story had wheels. This game was no doubt the first one it pounced on when the NFL was making out its schedule. The Colts and Pats have met each of the last six seasons, and five of those times they have met in the month of November. That’s not a coincidence. November is a sweeps month for the television networks, meaning it is the time of year when the ratings mean the most.

That’s why the Sunday Night Football crew was going to pull out all the stops tonight. John Madden was actually going to do his homework on both teams. Keith Olbermann was going to pull his lips off Obama’s backside long enough to write a script for his Sunday highlights that was at least marginally amusing. Then Tom Brady’s knee exploded and Peyton Manning started playing like his father and that was that. The air was out of the balloon.

The funny thing is, the NFL’s TV ratings started out pretty good this season. NBC’s ratings were up four percent through the first four weeks, but then the Oct. 19 game between Seattle and Tampa Bay was one of the lowest-rated in the show’s history. It’s too early to know for sure, but maybe people heard that Brady was out and the Colts were struggling and were intrigued by the lack of a dominant team. Then, once they saw that the dominant teams that are emerging, the Giants and the Titans, are as boring as a golf tournament without Tiger Woods, they went back to watching Cold Case in hopes of finding out whether Lilly Rush is anemic, albino or the walking dead.

The game itself is actually pretty important to both teams. The Colts’ season is essentially riding on it. Winning the division pretty much went out the window with last Monday night’s loss to Tennessee. A loss this week and they would probably have to go 7-1 in the second half of the season to get to 10-6 and have a shot at a wild card. The rest of their schedule features games at Pittsburgh, San Diego and Jacksonville, as well as another meeting with the Titans, so that’s not happening. And no, it doesn’t matter if Bob Sanders and Joseph Addai are back.

The Patriots still have more than a shot at winning the AFC East. Win or lose, they could be tied with Buffalo for the lead heading into next week’s game with the Bills. But a win in Indianapolis would do wonders for their confidence, especially a win that includes a good game from Matt Cassel.

Brady’s understudy has definitely improved over the course of the season, but he hasn’t been consistent week to week. No doubt, that’s to be expected with a guy who hasn’t started since high school (oh, you haven’t heard?). It would just do Patriot fans a world of good to see him start to hit his stride just as the Pats head into a big stretch of division and conference opponents this month (Buffalo, the Jets, Miami, Pittsburgh).

Tonight’s game will still be tense. The teams still don’t like each other. Anything could happen. My bookie gave me 5-to-1 odds on Vince Wilfork pulling a club out and going after Manning’s knee. When the clock runs out, Belichick could meet Tony Dungy at midfield and give him a peck on the cheek.

It’s not the “Game of the Century!!!” It’s not the “Game of the Year” or, in deference to Cowboys/Giants, even the “Game of the Week.” But it’s still Patriots vs. Colts.

America might not be on the edge of its seat, but I will.

Randy Whitehouse is a staff writer. His e-mail address is [email protected]