If you're like me and forced yourself to struggle through the Phil Simms/Jim Nantz call yesterday without chopping your ears off, then you probably heard Simms describe Polamalu's final play of the game as "illegal" more than once, even evoking a Holy Roller analogy (terrible comparison of two plays).  Assuming that Polamalu deliberately punched the ball up field (not here to argue that... he did it on purpose), does anyone know how the rule book actually shakes out on the play?  Almost certain that you can not advance a deliberate fumble as an offensive player (i.e. Holy Roller), but how does it work for a defensive player?  Looking for a rules junky to enlighten. . .

Hi All,

One play that's still bothering me is the holding call on Keyaron Fox prior to Baltimore's final drive.  To recap, Sepulveda's punt from the endzone was fair caught at midfield by Baltimore, but 10 yards was tacked on to the end of the play because of a holding call against Fox.  Two thoughts:

1.  As far as I can ever recall, holding calls against the punting team result in a replay of the down.  Why not in this case?

2.  If Keyaron was in the endzone (possible, but I didn't catch a replay) would/should the call have been a safety?

I was really surprised Tomlin didn't react more to the whole sequence when it was happening. . . thoughts?

Let's get the convo going on some of the early quotes/stories coming in from Tampa.  PG link at the bottom of the page, but I've pulled a few gems if you are lazy:

James Harrison.  Hilarious. . . 
On the Steelers strategy for rushing Warner - "I won't be rushing as much. Actually, I don't think I'll be rushing too much at all. We're going to do a lot of stuff where it looks like I'm rushing but I'm actually not because the offense is starting to turn toward me. So, we'll get in there and try to fool them a little bit, I guess."
I'll be sending Warner a paper and hoping he's gullable.

Someone asked him what his reaction would be if told in August that he'd be DPOY and playing in XLIII- "That they're a mind-reader or a fortune teller"

On why he trusts LeBeau (try figuring this one out)- "Because things that he has done that he may not know I know he's done.  It's not things I know that you know I know; it's the things that I know that you don't know I know that makes me trust him."

O-line.  Also hilarious. . .
"The Steelers' offensive line hoped to exit their charter wearing Dermontti Dawson No. 63 jerseys to honor the former Steelers great center.  The shipment of jerseys, though, carried sizes too small for them to wear. They're hoping for a second shipment to arrive soon so they can wear them at one of the media interview days that continue through Thursday."

Hines' Knee.  Not hilarious. . .
"I don't have a brace on, I walk around fine. It's not going to be 100 percent, I'm not going to trick anybody, but I think I'm going to be good, to be able to go out and perform like I want to."

He will resume [rehab] this morning, then attend the Steelers media interviews at Raymond James Stadium and "see where we're at."

"I really can't say because I haven't run or cut or done anything," said Ward, who did not practice last week after the right MCL was sprained in the first quarter of the Jan. 18 AFC championship game. "I was just constantly getting treatment, 24 hours around the clock."

I'm as big a Hines fan as there is, and I do believe that he is tough as nails, but the reality of his situation is that we may need to be prepared to move on without him at some point on Sunday.  That was a problem for this O against the Ravens. . . here's hoping that in SB prep, Arians can finally prove to us why he's the man who runs this offense.

One more thing, does anyone have an online safe-for-work feed for live coverage today?  Good luck trying to be productive!

Oh yeah, and Ben almost missed the flight to Tampa.

LINK: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09027/944771-66.stm

There was an error when I tried making this a FanShot, so I decided to make it a post because it is that good. . . .

Great PG article about my favorite player.  Some of Hines' quotes about the 13-9 win in Baltimore are great:

About Baltimore in general:

"I love beating them while [their fans] are flicking me off."

Leading up to the game winning 92 yd drive:

"I told 'em both [Ed Reed and Ray Lewis] that we were about to score and beat 'em in their own back yard"

Best quote, referring to Ward's biggest regret from the game, when he wasn't able to finish a LEGAL HIT on Bart Scott because the LB ducked:

"They put a bounty on me and then he ducks," Ward said, shrugging.

"He saw Hines coming and he was scared!" Holmes crowed from two lockers down.

I'm sure I have 75 words already, but I feel obligated to write something here anyways because everyone else does it.

I'm not a John Madden basher like many other people out there, but I kept wondering why he was refering to Big Ben's injury as a "separated shoulder" during the broadcast on Sunday despite never hearing that term throughout the week.  Did Madden have inside info, or was he just being stupid?  Well according to Tomlin, Madden's an idiot:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3591817

So that's all I have on this, but I had to add one more sentence to get up to 75 words.