Pierre Thomas is out. Get your Mike Bell on!

 

Boldin a true game-time decision. Keep following FOXSports.com for updates throughout the day.

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Roger Rotter will be in the chat room shortly off of the fantasy home page.

And look for quick-hit videos as the day unfolds.

 

 

Hey everybody - Let's toss up what we know about a few of the big injury notes heading into this Week 1.

Anquan Boldin - game-time decision. Boldin says he's going to play, but pre-game and post-game host for the Cardinals, Jon Bloom, tells me he'll have to test it in the pregame before they make a decision.

Kevin Walter - game-time decision. Walter has a hamstring pull (question of a groin injury as well) and did not practice on Friday.

Bob Sanders - is out for today versus Jacksonville. The run game with MJD looks a lot better.

Matt Cassel - listed as questionable with a sprained knee. Barring a setback in warm-ups, Cassel should play. However, it's awfully difficult to chuck him into lineups against Baltimore.

Matt Schaub - practiced and should play. More as I get 'em this morning. Listen to FOX Fantasy Football on FOX Sports Radio for the next two hours!

Last Friday, I put forth an idea for a new fantasy contest to keep the season going one more week. After all, it's hard to accept the completion of the fantasy season until the final gun sounds on the Super Bowl. Some might push that to the Pro Bowl, but with the continued defections of players until the kickoff, it's quite difficult to know how to call that one.

In between submission of content to the site and reviewing as many college and pro hoops games as possible, I broke down roughly five hours of television coverage from Sunday's big day to score Friday's contest. Of course, that also meant reviewing the game in its entirety for a second time, which allowed me to do scrawl even more notes. And that means that I'll add my final word on the referee controversy and missed opportunities.

But first, let's get the contest scoring out of the way.

1. Which team will win the coin toss? Seattle Seahawks

2. Predict the final score: 21-10

3. Who will win the Super Bowl MVP award? Hines Ward

(I'd predicted the Antwaan Randle El would take home the hardware, so I'm demanding a recount!)

4. Who will be the first player to score? Josh Brown

5. Who will be the last player to score? Hines Ward

6. Will Jerome Bettis score a touchdown? No

7. Who will throw for more yards -- Ben Roethlisberger or Matt Hasselbeck? Hasselbeck

8. Will Matt Hasselbeck throw more than one interception? No, he threw one pick

9. Will Ben Roethlisberger throw more than one interception? Yes, he tossed 2 picks

10. Will Shaun Alexander rush for more or fewer than 70 yards? More, he gained 95 yards

11. Who catches more passes, Jerramy Stevens or Heath Miller? Stevens won this battle with three catches. Miller failed to catch a pass.

12. Will Antwaan Randle El attempt a pass? And how! His 43-yard TD pass to Ward sealed the deal.

13. Will Jerome Bettis attempt a pass? No

14. Will Seneca Wallace attempt a pass? No

15. Which placekicker will score more points, Jeff Reed or Josh Brown? Brown won by a 4-3 count.

16. Will there be an interception returned for a touchdown? No

17. Will there be a kickoff or punt returned for a touchdown? No

18. Which coach will toss the challenge flag first, Bill Cowher or Mike Holmgren? Neither tossed the flag.

19. Which team will commit more turnovers? Pittsburgh 2-1

20. Predict the number of penalties that will be called? 10 total penalties, Seattle 7-3

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I also posed several questions that forced willing participants to listen more closely to the broadcast and to observe the commercials for more than their entertainment value. So, after slowing it down, and making full use of the DVR, here are the counts on the entertainment categories.

1. How many animals will appear in Super Bowl commercials? 83 - the "Streaker" ad for Bud Light blew this count up, and forced several rewinds.

2. How many times will John Madden and Al Michaels invoke the names of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady? I counted Brady's just once with the coin toss, and Belichick's appearance on the pre-game show doesn't count.

3. How many fast food commercials will air during the telecast (includes pizza)? 6

4. How many beverage ads will air? 17

5. How many mobile phone ads will air? 8

6. How many movie ads will air? 13

7. How many references to Joey Porter's press conference comments will be made? 3

8. How many references to Troy Polamalu's hair will be made? 1

9. How many times will Jerome Bettis's parents, John and Gladys, appear on camera? 5

10. Predict the songs to be performed by The Rolling Stones at halftime (one point per song, with bonus points for "Sympathy for the Devil").

Start Me Up, Rough Justice, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

In the event that you added a question about car ads, there were 20 aired during the game.

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Now, back to a few last observations on the game itself.

Over the past several days, much has been made of the officiating in Super Bowl XL. As I worked through the footage to unearth the answers for this contest, I'll admit to rewinding more than once on the plays in question. But there were also several other plays that caught my eye. Since you've already made your minds up on the Jackson would-be score, Big Ben's TD run, the Locklear hold, and the Hasselbeck penalty call, I'm not going to waste much ink on those.

By the letter of the law, Jackson committed pass interference. Did it create a decided advantage - maybe/maybe not? But, on an island in the middle of the end zone, and directly in front of the referee, it's got to be called.

With the Roethlisberger TD, if he had been ruled down, Pittsburgh would have been set up with 4th down and about six inches to go. Even though the offense hadn't done much to that point, you'd be hard pressed to convince me that Jeff Reed would have trotted onto the field. With an early 3-0 deficit and that defense in tow, there's no doubt in my mind that Big Ben or The Bus would have been running on fourth down. If it failed, the Seahawks were looking at a 99 3/4-yard drive.

I tie the Locklear hold directly to the Roethlisberger TD. If one is to argue that the Steelers don't get in from the one, then how can one assume that Seattle pushes it in from just inside the two? And I know, it would have been first and goal. But either way, let's just be consistent with the assumptions.

With regard to that Locklear hold, it was quite similar to a hold called on Chris Gray in the first quarter against James Farrior that negated a completion to Darrell Jackson. The technique was virtually identical.

I can't explain the Hasselbeck call. I suppose from a certain angle on the field that it looked like a low hit. We'll call that one a push.

Forget about those calls for a second. What about the plays that didn't get made on Sunday?

Why isn't more being made about the four touchbacks on punts from Tom Rouen? Instead of pinning the Steelers back inside the five or ten, Pittsburgh started four positions on the 20. What happened to the "coffin corner?"

With 12:23 on the clock in the second quarter, Matt Hasselbeck tossed a pass to Jerramy Stevens that was ultimately ruled incomplete. It appeared that Stevens gained possession and got two feet down before a hit jarred the ball loose. I wondered aloud why no challenge was made. I suppose with the punt team coming onto the field, Bill Cowher figured it didn't matter. I thought it might have been a momentum builder for the struggling Steelers at that point, but I digress. Rouen promptly punted the ball into the end zone on the next play.

Darrell Jackson failed to mind his footing on two plays toward the sideline, with one of them costing Seattle a TD.

Hines Ward also let one get away. It was a difficult but catchable ball from Roethlisberger.

And finally, what happened to the Seattle offense in the final minutes of each half? The confusion on the multiple audibles in the first half cost Seattle a chance to position Josh Brown for a more makeable attempt. In the second half, needing two scores. Hasselbeck checked down to short sideline routes that ultimately let the clock wind down. There was no fourth field goal attempt for Brown, and Roethlisberger took a knee to finish the deal.

The one big takeaway for me out of this game was the efficiency and spot-on passing of Hasselbeck. Aside from the interception by Ike Taylor, he performed brilliantly and made all the throws, only to be hurt by drops and bad footing. It was like Koren Robinson had made his return to Seattle ...

In any event, it's time to think about free agency and the draft. Shaun Alexander and Antwaan Randle El lead the list of those in search of new deals.

Good times.