FanHouse SuperBowl

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell just announced that New Orleans will be the host city for Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.

It will be New Orleans' 10th Super Bowl, which will tie it with Miami for the most ever. Miami will host its 10th in 2010.

"I think this is a great statement about the spirit of the people of New Orleans and the great relationship the NFL and the Saints have with that community," Goodell said.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Coming to you live from the beach, where NFL owners begin gathering tonight at the Ritz-Carlton for two days of meetings. I'll be posting developments as they come up, but in the meantime here's a quick rundown on what these guys will be discussing this week in between their regular checks of Drew Rosenhaus' twitter updates:

-The 2013 Super Bowl. Sometime Tuesday, the league will announce the site of the 2013 game. New Orleans is the favorite, but South Florida and Arizona remain in the running until somebody tells us otherwise. The weather here was gorgeous today, but it's clouding up and thunderstorms are forecast for the next couple of days. Such things are unlikely to seriously hurt South Florida's case, but it can't help. The next three Super Bowls are set for Miami, Arlington and Indianapolis.

The NFL is holding a regular-season game in London this year for the third time. But England's capital city has its sights set on a much bigger event. According to a report in The Guardian, London has launched a bid to host the Super Bowl at some time in the next eight years.

The next three Super Bowl sites are set, with Miami scheduled to host the game in 2010, Arlington, Tex. in 2011 and Indianapolis in 2012. While I'm sure the league has good ($$$$) reasons for those latter two sites, at first glance they make it look as if the NFL is running out of U.S. cities in which to hold the game. In that case, let's go to London!

TAMPA, Fla. -- We don't watch Super Bowls for the chip dip, as Bruce Springsteen wisecracked during his 12-minute party. We crave the emotional bull rush, a crescendo finish, the natural high that Michael Phelps finds in a marijuana pipe. The big game used to bore like a 4 a.m. infomercial, but Sunday, it delivered again, like last year, hijacking our senses with head-banging, back-and-forth drama that even might have thrilled The Boss, the rocker who hates football.

There aren't a lot of underappreciated Pittsburgh Steelers. As a team that spent most of the season on prime time or in national 4:15 p.m. games, any Steeler who stood out was seen all around the country.

But if there is one Steeler who could be considered a sleeper, it's tight end Heath Miller. Miller is one of the keys to the Steelers offense, but because most of his work is done blocking defensive ends and linebackers for the Steelers running game, he doesn't put up the numbers to be noticed.

It's Super Bowl week, which means we get lots of stories about Kurt Warner's days as a grocery bagger and Santonio Holmes' days as a drug dealer.

There's a lot of reasons for those stories. It gives a human face to the game's stars, and it helps build interest in a game that will be watched by many people who watch only one football game a year.

But if you're a fan who has Football Outsiders bookmarked and see zone blitzes in your sleep, I'm right there with you. Here's your primer to FanHouse's analysis of Sunday's Super Bowl XLIII.

No matter how many times you may hear John Madden and Al Michaels say otherwise, the Steelers are no longer a power running team. Jerome Bettis is long gone, and Alan Faneca now pulls to lead runs in New York.

But if the Steelers are going to harken back to the days when they could run against any defense, it will likely be in part because of their G-Power run. It was their favorite play when Faneca was the left guard and, even without Faneca, it's still a key part of Pittsburgh's playbook.

To get you ready for Super Bowl XLIII, we're diagramming a couple of key plays in Anatomy of a Play.

While the Steelers have a reputation as a blitzing team, the Cardinals are actually the team that will most likely do anything and everything to create havoc on defense.

Pittsburgh believes that it can get pressure with a four-man rush. Arizona, on the other hand, will probably send five, six and even seven to put Ben Roethlisberger on the ground. The Cardinals will also likely blitz their inside linebackers in first- and second-down situations to try to create problems in the Steelers' run game.

ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio is reporting that Ben Roethlisberger had X-rays on his ribs on Wednesday, possibly as a precautionary measure/follow-up for the back injury he suffered against the Ravens.

When asked about it, Roethlisberger gave a "no comment," then made it clear he wasn't talking about it when asked a follow-up question.

Roethlisberger is not listed on the Steelers' injury report, but, as we all know, that doesn't really mean a whole lot considering the NFL's lack of teeth in cracking down on the accuracy of injury reports.

You know about Hines Ward and Kurt Warner, but this week we'll also try to spotlight some non-household names who could play crucial parts in Super Bowl XLIII.

Who: Lawrence Timmons.

What Does He Do: Steelers backup inside/outside linebacker.

2008 Stats: 65 tackles, 5 sacks, 1 interception.