FanHouse LaMarr Woodley

For some reason, head coach Brad Childress thought letting Brett Favre and his 40-year-old arm sling the ball all over the yard gave the Vikings the best chance to win against the Steelers Sunday. He was so sure of this, in fact, that the Ole Gunslinger ended up doing it 51 times.

On two occasions in the fourth quarter that decision led directly to Steelers points. Defensive end Brett Keisel stripped Favre as he dropped back and linebacker LaMarr Woodley took the fumble to the house. And with just over a minute to play and Minnesota trailing by three, a Favre screen pass skipped off the hands of Chester Taylor, into the lap of linebacker Keyaron Fox, and 82 yards later, ball game.

Here's a question: why not give the ball to Adrian Peterson more than 18 times? Since, you know, he came into the game leading the league in rushing, and fresh off hanging 143 rushing yards on the Ravens. Didn't happen, and instead of seeing Purple Jesus tread defenders all afternoon, we only got to see it once.

Video hit-and-run after the jump.

The much-anticipated showdown between the Vikings and Steelers at Heinz Field went pretty much as expected for three quarters -- hard-nosed, low-scoring, old-fashioned football. Then the fourth quarter came, and things went off the rails.

Pittsburgh held a 13-10 lead when the final frame began, and needed just one play to get inside Minnesota's 10. But on the Steelers' second fourth-quarter snap, Rashard Mendenhall coughed up a fumble. The Vikings then marched 89 yards in 17 plays, from their own 3 to the Steelers' 8. On third-and-goal, Brett Favre dropped back to pass and was stripped by Pittsburgh lineman Brett Keisel. Defensive end LaMarr Woodley scooped up the loose ball and rumbled, James Harrison Super Bowl-style, 77 yards for a touchdown.

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The Steelers pass rush has missing in action for much of the first month of the season and a lot of that blame has started to focus on outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley who has zero sacks in four games after picking up 11.5 sacks last season.

But as Dagger over at Post Game Heroes points out, Woodley's lack of sack production doesn't mean he's not being productive. Against the Chargers, Woodley had only one tackle and no sacks but he did do an excellent job of shutting down the passes in the flat to LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

If you want to get stars to come out to a charity event, the best place in Los Angeles to host the event would be the Playboy Mansion. Reggie Bush and Chris Paul invited friends to the mansion to play poker and raise some much needed funds to help their Sports Dream Foundation. In this FanHouse exclusive, we catch up with Hugh Hefner, a person many athletes say they would love to be for a day. We also hear from some NBA and NFL stars like Tyson Chandler, Usama Young (Saints), Chester Pitts (Texans), LaMarr Woodley (Steelers) as well as the Collins twins and Andre "Top Dollar" Iguodala, who credits Dave Chappelle for teaching him foreign languages.

Check out the video after the jump.

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet the...
Team with more Super Bowl titles than any other franchise in existence. Fresh off of their sixth Super Bowl title, the Steelers return in 2009 with a solid shot at a repeat performance. The stellar defense is still around and the main keys to the Pittsburgh offense are back and healthy.

While the NFL version of the Steelers is a force to be reckoned with, the Steelers, as fantasy assets, are just average.

Four years ago, Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau figured out how to move Troy Polamalu around to create all kinds of confusion--the result was an amazing run through the playoffs on the way to a Super Bowl victory. Two years ago, LeBeau tinkered with the Steelers defense by working up a pass defense with one down lineman and defensive end Brett Keisel wandering all around to cause mass chaos. The result was the league's top ranked defense for total yardage allowed.

Last year LeBeau drew up overload blitzes with James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley lined up on the same side and nickel packages that allowed Lawrence Timmons, Harrison and Woodley to come from anywhere and everywhere. It turned into one of the best defenses of all time (first in total defense, passing defense and scoring nd second in rushing defense).

Santonio Holmes' snag in the end zone will likely be the lasting image of Super Bowl XLIII, but if James Harrison was one-tenth of a second slower on his 100-yard dash to end the first half, the Cardinals are likely hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

It's arguable that Harrison's play, the longest in Super Bowl history, was even more important than Holmes' catch. Arizona was looking to go into the half with a lead, instead, when Harrison picked off Kurt Warner and returned the interception for a record-breaking 100-yard touchdown, it was a 14-point swing that turned the entire momentum of the game.

Want to get a cheat sheet for the Super Bowl, here are a couple of plays to watch for on Sunday.

Blocking Steelers outside linebackers James Harrison or LaMarr Woodley is a tough job for any offensive tackle, but thanks to a new blitz that Dick LeBeau has dreamed up, sometimes a tackle has to worry about both of them at the same time.

LeBeau is a defensive genius who is always drawing up new looks in an attempt to spread confusion among offensive linemen. And nothing is more confusing than trying to figure out the Steelers outside linebacker overload as the play clock runs down.

Every week during the season we focused on an aspect of line play with Between The Lines. So for the Super Bowl, we're focusing on all aspects of the battle of the line of scrimmage. Today, we look at the Steelers' defense.

There have been many times this postseason when Larry Fitzgerald, Kurt Warner and the Cardinals offense have looked unstoppable. On Sunday, we'll find out how true that is. There many matchups to watch, but it's safe to say that if the Cardinals can block the Steelers' pass rush, they likely will pull off the upset. If they can't, Pittsburgh will be bringing its sixth Super Bowl trophy back to the Steel City.

Warner has averaged 286 yards passing per game this season, but now he'll be facing a defense that has allowed more than 300 yards of total offense only twice in 18 games. Warner and an offense with three 1,000-yard receivers will be one of the Steelers' D's toughest tests, but this is not a defense that is untested.