Its time to lay down

Since you asked:

I got the feeling the Seattle Seahawks are going to win the Super Bowl. Why? Everyone wants Pittsburgh, Seattle has nothing to lose. I saw clips of media day and the Seahawks reminded me of when I went to the Super Bowl media day – (oh, not again with your Super Bowl media day?)

Hang on, inner tirade. No, really, in Super Bowl XXXVII, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers seemed to be in on a secret and were enjoying themselves. The Oakland Raiders seemed bummed out and stressed out. Their center Barrett Robbins had gone a.w.o.l. and it hurt the Raiders.

Anytime you have a team with a we-have-nothing-to-lose-we-don’t-get-enough-respect mantra combined with a loose cocky confidence, they are going to be trouble. The Texas Longhorns had the same thing going before they beat USC in the Rose Bowl.

When I heard that Troy Palamalu sprained his ankle, my first thought was that this was a classic Steeler sandbag. Against the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX, all week they said their star receiver, Lynn Swann, had a pulled hamstring. In the second or first play, he took off and caught a long bomb.

But then I thought, no, Troy is too gutsy and classy. If he sits out of a practice that means he is really hurt.  And as Troy goes so goes the Steelers. You can talk “The Bus is back home in Detroit” all you want, but the key to this game is which defense plays better.  

Who is the hottest NFL team right now? The Steelers? Nope. Going into next season, the Miami Dolphins have won six in a row. The coldest team? The Oakland Raiders have lost six in a row. Look for those trends to continue next year.