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A league source tells us that the Baltimore Ravens most likely will not allow pro personnel director George Kokinis to join the New York Jets amid reports that new G.M. Mike Tannenbaum would like to hire Kokinis into the same position.

League rules permit teams to block front office personnel who are under contract from making lateral moves. The duration of Kokinis's contract is not known.

"Unless you are going to be a GM or head coach, the owners have made it impossible to get promotions unless you are granted permission by your club," said one league insider.

So Tannenbaum will be required to hire someone who currently is not employed, or a guy whose contract expires after the 2006 draft. Alternatively, he'll be required to promote from within and backfill by hiring entry-level scouts.

One of the more intriguing story lines to date in the 2006 offseason has been the status of former Broncos secondary coach David Gibbs.

Gibbs abruptly was fired by Broncos coach Mike Shanahan in November 2004. Shanahan never gave a reason for the move, and we'd heard that defensive coordinator Larry Coyer instigated the move because players were going to Gibbs more often than to Coyer with questions.

Recent developments suggest that, indeed, the move had nothing to do with Gibbs' abilities. Why? Because we're now told that Shanahan lieutenant Gary Kubiak offered Gibbs the job of defensive coordinator with the Houston Texans.

Gibbs declined the offer, opting instead to join the Kansas City Chiefs as defensive backs coach after spending a year as the defensive coordinator at Auburn.

"Her family lives in Lawrence," Gibbs recently said. "With a second child on the way, this was the perfect opportunity to get closer to her home."

If Gibbs plays his cards right, he might be in line to succeed current Chiefs defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham.

Unless, of course, too many of the Kansas City defenders go to Gibbs with questions than to Cunningham.

There's talk in league circles that Ravens offensive coordinator Jim Fassel believes he's got a real shot at becoming the next head coach of the Oakland Raiders.

Some league insiders believe that Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt won't accept the Raiders job, if it's offered to him.

"He'd be one of the top candidates next season and could probably pick his job," said one league source.

With most of the offensive starters returning to the Steelers and another full offseason to work with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Whisenhunt's star will only rise in 2006 -- as will offensive line coach Russ Grimm's. Possible head coaching vacancies could arise a year from now in Baltimore, Tennessee, Jacksonville, San Diego, Dallas, Atlanta, Arizona, and Seattle.

Several weeks back, yours truly told a reader that if former Rams head coach Mike Martz lowered himself to accepting an offensive coordinator position in 2006, yours truly would eat his computer.

Martz reportedly was offered the job a week ago, then reportedly backed out because of money. Subsequent reports indicated that no offer was made, because new Lions coach Rod Marinelli simply wasn't sufficiently comfortable with Martz.

But then reports surfaced that the door might still be open, which made no sense in light of the story undoubtedly leaked by the Lions that they didn't want Martz.

Apart from the team's bizarre willingness to continue the courtship of Martz under these circumstances, Martz's addition to the franchise makes no sense. Marinelli claims that the Lions will be tough, disciplined, hard-nosed. Martz's brand of offensive football has never exhibited any of those traits.

Besides, if we were Matt Millen, we'd keep our eyes on Martz, especially when he gets within earshot of anyone named Ford. It doesn't take a genius to realize that Martz craves power -- and that Millen has a tenuous hold on it.

Then again, Martz could save Millen's cookies if Martz can do with the team's offense something that the team's two prior head coaches, both of whom had offensive backgrounds, couldn't accomplish -- move the ball and score points on a consistent basis.

Martz also will serve as the team's quarterbacks coach, and his first job unlikely will be to make a recommendation as to whether Joey Harrington should be brought back for another season. The other quarterback under contract for 2006 is Dan Orlovsky.

The worst-kept secret in broadcast circles is finally out of the bag. Al Michaels has bailed on his contract with ESPN, and the four-letter network for which, according to one of our industry sources, Michaels once said he'd never work will now turn to a three-man unit of Mike Tirico, Joe Theismann, and Tony Kornheiser.

But Kornheiser, like his MNF predecessor John Madden, is averse to flying. We're told that Kornheiser has said on his D.C.-area radio show that, like Madden, he'll take a bus from city to city.

Kornheiser will continue to handle ESPN's Pardon the Interruption with Michael Wilbon. On Mondays during football season, the show will air from the site of the NFL game.

The official ESPN.com story makes no mention of Michaels. He is expected to join Madden at NBC, where the duo will cover Sunday night football.

At a time when plenty of calls from Super Bowl XL are getting plenty of criticism, the NFL has put to rest one of the disputed officiating decisions from Sunday night.

With less than a minute to play in the first half, Seahawks receiver Darrell Jackson caught a pass near the end zone, got one foot in bounds, and kicked the pylon with the other foot before the second foot landed out of bounds. The pass was ruled incomplete, and there was no booth review.

"We've looked at it carefully and it's the right call," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told us Wednesday morning. "The key is that he had to get his second foot down in bounds. . . . He did not get his second foot down in bounds and therefore it is not a completion."

However, ESPN's John Clayton previously interpreted a 2002 rule change as making such a move a valid touchdown. On Tuesday, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and HBO offered a similar interpretation of the rule on WGR in Buffalo.

"John Clayton is wrong and [Peter] King now knows it's a good call," Aiello said.

So why the confusion? The official language is arguably ambiguous. Per Rule 3, section 20, article 1(b): "A player or an official is out of bounds when he touches anything other than a player, an official, or a pylon on or outside a boundary line."

So touching a pylon doesn't make the player out of bounds. But, as we explained on Tuesday, it also doesn't make him in bounds.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the Seahawks faithful will quit complaining about several other calls, but this is one on which they've got no plausible basis to gripe.

A league source tells us that the New York Jets likely will pursue Ravens director of pro personnel George Kokinis after the April draft.

Kokinis, we're told, is "very tight" with new Jets G.M. Mike Tannenbaum, and Kokinis also has a good relationship with new Jets coach Eric Mangini.

With that said, it's unlikely that Ravens G.M. Ozzie Newsome will allow Kokinis to leave for anything other than a G.M. gig. Per league rules, teams can block front-office moves that do not involve "final say."

As we explained last night, former Jets G.M. Terry Bradway likely will stay with the team through the completion of the April draft, since an earlier departure would enable him to take his months of personnel research to another franchise. Once Bradway goes, it will be incumbent on Tannenbaum to replace Bradway's personnel expertise.

New Jets G.M. Mike Tannenbaum has a slight problem. On one hand, he needs to convince the media and the fans (and, most importantly, himself) that he has the requisite experience to be a General Manager. On the other hand, he needs to distance himself from the string of General Management embarrassments that have plagued the Jets over the past few years.

"Since 1997, I feel like I've been a G.M. in training," Tannenbaum said on Tuesday. "I've been involved in every conceivable transaction: Trading up in the draft, trading down in the draft, losing players in the restricted market, gaining players in the restricted market, most notably Curtis Martin in 1998."

"Involved" is the key word. Because if Tannenbaum was "involved" in, say, the decision to trade up to get so-so defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson at No. 4 in 2003, that's not a mark of, you know, competence.

Likewise, if he was "involved" in the decision to slap only a mid-level tender on receiver Laveranues Coles in 2003, it's not a good thing.

Or if he was "involved" in the decision to trade Santana Moss for Coles in 2005, it's not a good thing.

Or if he was "involved" in the the Chad Morton fiasco in 2003, it's not a good thing.

Here's a quick refresher. The 'Skins signed Morton, a restricted free agent, to an offer sheet. The Jets matched the Washington offer.

But the Jets didn't match all of the key terms, so an arbitrator decided that the Jets really didn't match the offer -- and declared that Morton was the property of the Redskins.

And, at the time, the guy presumably providing that advice was assistant G.M., cap expert, and trained legal advice provider Mike Tannenbaum.

Then there's the recent handling of the departure of coach Herm Edwards and offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, both of which events occurred at a time when Tannenbaum's influence presumably was at its highest point during his tenure with the team.

So Tannenbaum is caught in a trap. The only way that he has enough experience to run all aspects of a front office is if his fingerprints are sufficiently affixed to the string of bad decisions that fueled the departure of his former boss. And if that's the case, Tannenbaum should have gotten pushed out, too.

Although it's virtually impossible to sift through the chain of events that unfolded immediately after the final gun sounded in Super Bowl XL, it appears that Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren did not seek out Steelers coach Bill Cowher for the traditional post-game handshake.

Whether Holmgren intentionally dissed Cowher isn't specifically known. However, one of our sources who was on the field at the time tells us that Holmgren was clearly "pissed."

Another source tells us that Holmgren might have been upset with the fact that Cowher had his family on the field with him in the waning moments of the game. Though it doesn't seem like much of a big deal to us, it's apparently a major no-no among NFL types for family members to be anywhere in the vicinity of the playing area before the clock strikes zero.

When we heard Steelers coach Bill Cowher re-ignite the "Who Dey? . . . We Dey!" chant at Tuesday's parade in Pittsburgh, it seemed a bit odd. After all, it's been four long weeks since the Steelers went into Cincinnati and vanquished the AFC North champion Bengals -- and the Steelers have had three much bigger wins since then.

But maybe Coach Chin's mild obsession with sticking it to the Bengals traces back to the Steelers' last loss, which came at home on December 4 against Cincinnati. After the game, several Bengals crowed that the balance of power had shifted in the division, and that the Bengals had assumed residence of the penthouse formerly occupied by Pittsburgh.

Our guess, based on Cowher's resort to the "Who Dey?" thing on Tuesday, is that the thing that ultimately got the team's fire going for the balance of the year wasn't some non-sequiting story about Christopher Columbus but the hatching of a burning desire to introduce the guys from Cincy to the new boss, who's the same as the old boss.

Moving forward, look for the Steelers to strengthen their grip. Sure, there will be free-agent losses in Pittsburgh. But there always are, and yet Cowher's crew continues to win more games than it loses.

The Bengals, meanwhile, are reeling. Franchise quarterback Carson Palmer isn't available until September at the earliest. Receiver Chris Henry might never be back. And receiver Chad Johnson's halftime behavior during the playoff loss to the Steelers has created an internal issue that won't go away if, by all appearances, coach Marvin Lewis continues to act like it was no big deal.

So just when it looked like the Bengals had finally beaten down the boys from the 'Burgh, the Steelers own the Lombardi -- and they likely will dominate the division in 2006 and beyond.

Multiple league insiders believe in the wake of the decision of the Jets to elevate Mike Tannenbaum to General Manager that the two utes who'll now be running the show in New York will destroy the franchise.

The thinking is that, while both Tannenbaum, 36, and head coach Eric Mangini, 35, are talented, neither is ready for the job they now hold.

As one league source told us, "[It's] just another case of a cap guy taking over a team. A guy who is not and never will be a football guy. There is no one in the Jet organization capable of making a good personnel decision. When will these owners learn that in order to win, football people have to make football decisions? I am not sticking up for Terry [Bradway], I am just speaking out against a cap guy who doesn't have a clue about football. They control the money and they think they know something about the game. Trust me, the Jets will be losers for years. The Giants must be happy because they will have no competition from the other New York team."

And this train wreck couldn't be playing out in a worse city. On Tuesday afternoon, Tannenbaum came off as flustered and nervous while taking questions from WFAN's Mike Francesa and Chris Russo that, by New York media standards, were Styrofoam softballs dipped in powdered sugar.

The root of the problem, as Francesa and Russo pointed out, is that Tannenbaum's stated commitment to getting the players that Mangini needs could be problematic, since Mangini doesn't quite know what he needs. And there will be a time when Mangini wants one guy and the scouts want another guy and Tannenbaum will be called upon to make a final decision.

But he doesn't have the credentials or the experience to do it.

In a few months, he won't have Bradway to turn to for advice. Although we heard earlier on Tuesday that Bradway had the option to leave after being demoted, one league source explained to us that there's no way the team would have let him bolt before the draft, given that he's already got months of research that he could have carried to a new team.

Likewise, several league insiders expect that, not long after the draft, Bradway will hit the highway.

So Bradway is essentially done, even though he'll finish out the next couple of months as a member of the organization.

The next question, then, is where Tannenbaum will turn for personnel expertise after Bradway goes. If Tannenbaum has the same kind of trouble that Mangini did when the time came to hire a staff, major problems are indeed brewing in Gotham.

In fact, Tannenbaum might have trouble keeping his scouts on board. If he's going to continue to suggest that he has figured out by osmosis how to evaluate personnel over the past five season, he'll lose any and all credibility that he ever had in the organization.

So based on what we're hearing, we expect a full and complete house cleaning in two or three years. Mangini and Tannenbaum will move on in the business, and they might ultimately be extremely successful. But the coming couple of seasons in New York could help to redefine the word "suck."

A reader tells us that WFAN in New York reports that the Terry Bradway is out as the General Manager of the Jets. Mike Tannenbaum is the new G.M., and Bradway will stay on in a reduced role.

A league source tells us that Bradway will become the director of college and pro scouting. The source also says that Bradway had the option to take the demotion and stay, or to seek employment elsewhere. Some thought he might consider landing in Kansas City.

The Jets' web site is silent on this issue, but it announces that a "major press conference" will be conducted at 3:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday.

Several league insiders saw this one coming, but it's a surprise that it has happened so soon. Recently, we explained that Bradway's habit of working out of his home created an opening for Tannenbaum, who was walking the halls (and presumably working the owner) on a regular basis. It is widely regarded that Tannenbaum was instrumental in the decision to hire Eric Mangini, a close friend of Tannenbaum's, as the new head coach.

Indeed, the source tells us that the Bradway-for-Tannenbaum swap was agreed upon with owner Woody Johnson when Mangini was hired last month.

The only problem is that Tannenbaum is regarded as a cap guy, not as a football guy. Perhaps Bradway, then, will focus solely on the personnel aspects of the position, and Tannenbaum will do the rest.

Four years ago, Tannenbaum nearly left the team when former coach/G.M. Bill Parcells was poised to land in Tampa. After Parcells pulled out, Tannenbaum stayed put.

The saga continues regarding the question of whether Seahawks receiver Darrell Jackson's second-quarter touchdown that wasn't was the right call.

Several readers sent to us a link to a 2002 article from ESPN.com's John Clayton, in which the Professor proclaims, per a new rule, "a pass would be considered complete if one foot touches the pylon and the other foot is in bounds."

However, the official NFL.com story regarding the 2002 rules changes says nothing about the pylon being part of the field of play. Instead, the NFL.com version states merely that "[a] player no longer an be ruled out of bounds when he touches a pylon unless he already touched the boundary line."

The pylons are positioned on the boundary lines at the front and back of the end zone, and are thus out of bounds. The old rule was that touching the pylon was akin to touching the white line on which the pylon is perched, making the player necessarily out of bounds. Under the 2002 revision, a player may now touch the pylon without being instantly regarded as out of bounds.

Here's the key -- touching the pylon doesn't mean that the player is in bounds, either.

If Jackson had gotten one foot in bounds, kicked the pylon with the other foot, and then gotten that other foot in bounds, it would have been a touchdown. Merely touching the pylon with one foot is not enough, contrary to Clayton's story, to make the reception count.

So after further review of our further review, we'll say that the call was a correct one.

Hey, at least we're committed to getting it right. Even if it takes a few tries.

Although Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren had nothing to say about the questionable calls that marred Super Bowl XL on Sunday, the Big Show took a shot at the zebras during a rally for the team on Monday at Qwest Field.

The NFL prohibits coaches and team officials from criticizing officials. Several fines were imposed during the 2005 season on coaches. Steelers linebacker Joey Porter did not get slapped with a fine for accusing the refs of trying to help the Colts get to the Super Bowl, supposedly since the NFL holds coaches to a higher standard.

We explained in our Super Bowl XL X-Pack that the second-quarter goal line catch by Seahawks receiver Darrell Jackson should not have counted because, even though his left foot landed in bounds and his right foot struck the pylon, the pylon is clearly out of bounds.

Among the crush of e-mails we have received following Super Bowl XL were a couple messages from readers containing a link to a story penned by ESPN's John Clayton in 2002 regarding new rules changes.

One of the adjustments passed was as follows: "A player will be ruled in bounds if he touches the pylon at the goal line before going out of bounds. For example, a pass would be considered complete if one foot touches the pylon and the other foot is in bounds."

In Jackson's case, one foot clearly was in bounds and the other foot clearly hit the pylon.

If that rule change has not since been dumped, then the failure of the officials to get the Jackson call correct was, in our opinion, the worst call of the game -- even though it has received, by far, the least attention.

We've looked at the tape (again), and Side Judge Tom Hill was standing right there watching Jackson's feet. Hill saw one foot land in bounds, and he saw the second foot hit the pylon.

And since the play occurred with less than two minutes remaining in the first half, the replay official didn't buzz referee Bill Leavy to take another look-see at the play -- even though the Steelers called a time out before the next play, giving the replay official even more time to get it right.

This is the call that, in our opinion, should get someone fired. It would have given the Seahawks a 9-7 lead, pending the extra point, with less than 50 seconds to play in the second quarter.

Pittsburgh area students are expected to be in school on Tuesday, and not to skip out so that they can attend the Steelers parade (hey, kids -- carpe diem, which is Latin for "tell teacher to shove it up his or her ass").

Coach Chin came up with a speech based on Christopher Columbus to get his team to turn around a sinking season (meanwhile, half of them spent the rest of the year asking each other whether the guy used to play quarterback for Ohio State).

We appreciate the fact that Barry Witz of The Los Angeles Daily News gave us a mention for the photo of the zebra in black-and-gold stripes, but we're hoping that someone will pick up on our far more serious suggestion that the NFL should incorporate modern technology into the process for officiating games.

Former Broncos CB Willie Middlebrooks has pleaded guilty to assault (he also should plead guilty to grand larceny for that first-round signing bonus he pocketed five years ago).

The Texans are still waiting to hear from former Packers coach Mike Sherman in response to an offer to join Gary Kubiak's staff.

From Greg Cote of The Miami Herald: "Watching Aretha Franklin, Dr. John and Aaron Neville perform the national anthem, I couldn't help but marvel that in their lifetimes the three of them have combined to win more than 20 Grammys and apparently miss fewer than four meals."

We no longer regard January 1 as the first day of the year. For us, New Year's Day is the morning after the Sunday in early February on which the passing of another 12 months is noted by the arrival of the football game with the Roman numeral.

So as we welcome year XLI S.B., we reflect on the X of the things from the final day of XL S.B. that caught our attention.

It's a favorite family quote spawned a few years ago when Florio Jr. was in the midst of slopping a half a stick of Land O' Lakes onto an ear of corn. And it's something that we now use whenever someone is allowing the thing that's supposed to be the add-on to overtake the thing that isn't.

This principle came to mind as we attempted to keep up with nine-and-a-half hours of Super Bowl pregame coverage.

How ridiculous was it? Sister corporations ESPN and ABC were in direct competition with their respective pregame shows for a full 150 minutes.

Sometimes less is more, folks. Especially when we're all going to cap off the day by spending four hours watching, you know, the game itself.

This time around, the National Anthem was as bad as we can recall it being at any event we've ever seen. The singing sounded like a couple of American Idol auditions that would make Simon scowl and say something akin to "It sounded like Mean Joe Greene clamped his teeth onto your scrotum." Fortunately, our own sense of hearing was somewhat distracted by that Folsom Prison-quality tattoo on the left cheek of Aaron Neville and the nagging question of how in the world the crack of Aretha Franklin's ass was peeking through the top of her shirt.

We've spilled plenty of e-ink regarding the brouhaha that has erupted regarding the officiating, but we've yet to share our views on the calls that were -- and weren't -- made.

So here's what we think regarding the most critical officiating decisions from the Super Bowl.

First, the offensive pass interference call on Seahawks receiver Darrell Jackson was borderline at best. Yes, Jackson pushed off. A little. At a minimum, the flag on Jackson should have been negated by an illegal contact flag on Steelers safety Chris Hope, who grabbed at Jackson's arm well beyond the five-yard chuck zone -- and who then put his hands on Jackson an instant before the Jackson extended his arms.

Second, one of Jerramy Stevens' dropped passes actually was a catch and a fumble at the Steelers 25. But the officials blew the play dead as an incompletion before the Steelers could make the recovery, wiping out any chance at a replay review. Still, James Farrior would have recovered the ball inside the ten, and he might not have gotten back to the 20 via the return. On the very next play, Seahawks punter Tom Rouen kicked into the end zone, giving the Steelers the ball at the 20. So even though the call went Seattle's way, there was no real advantage.

Third, the Ben Roethlisberger touchdown was a questionable call on the field followed by a proper use of instant replay. The official who ran in from the sideline initially put his hand in the air as if he were going to spot the ball inside the one, and then the official abruptly decided that Roethlisberger had gotten into the end zone.

But what the hell did the guy see? Apparently, he was influenced by the fact that Ben pushed the ball into the end zone after the play ended. Since the replay angle was shot from the same perspective that the official had, it's hard to believe the official saw the ball break the plane.

On review, Bill Leavy made the right decision, since there was no indisputable evidence that the ball didn't get in. In fact, it looked to us as if the ball kissed the plane, which would make it a legitimate touchdown. But if the call on the field had been that Roethlisberger didn't get in, there wouldn't have been enough evidence via replay to reverse.

Bottom line -- it's time to develop an electronic system for determining whether the ball entered the end zone. Otherwise, the NFL should revert to the original rule requiring the runner to actually "touch down" the ball in the goal area.

Fourth, cornerback Kelly Herndon's long interception return included a block in the back on Roethlisberger, which would have put the ball at the Pittsburgh 48 instead of at the Pittsburgh 20.

Fifth, the holding call on Seattle tackle Sean Locklear that took the ball from first and goal at the two to second and 20 was weak, especially since the hold had no real impact on the play. If that flag isn't thrown, the 'Hawks would have erased the biggest deficit in Super Bowl history and claimed the lead in the fourth quarter.

Sixth, there was a horse collar tackle on Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander by Steelers linebacker Joey Porter on the same drive. But no flag from the officials.

Seventh, the fifteen-yarder called on Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck following his interception was one of the worst calls we've ever seen, and it put the Steelers closer to position for the razzle-dazzle pass from Antwaan Randle El to Hines Ward that iced the game.

So, as we see it, there were seven questionable calls, the bulk of which favored the Steelers.

One last thing. Several readers have argued that the long catch Seahawks receiver Darrell Jackson made at the goal line near the end of the first half should have been called a touchdown, since Jackson got one foot down and kicked the pylon with the other one. But the pylon is out of bounds. Although touching the pylon with the ball is enough to register a touchdown since the goal line extends beyond the field of play, the pylon is not actually in the field of play. So it was, after all, a good call.

Nothing remarkable this year. Burger King pissed away $5 million in air time early for a disturbing hamburger orgy. Otherwise, it was sort of blah.

And, as usual, the best and funniest spots arose from efforts of the folks at Anheuser-Busch to indoctrinate the next generation of beer drinkers.

Between drinking booze and playing Sudoku, it's a wonder we accomplish anything as a society.

The most compelling ad shown during the Super Bowl was the teaser for ABC's own Grey's Anatomy, which followed the game in most markets. Though we've only watched the show a handful of times, we stayed up to see the episode, which didn't get rolling on WTAE in Pittsburgh until well after midnight.

We won't blow the whole "Code Black" thing, in the event that some of you haven't watched it yet. But we'll say this -- the promo was a helluvalot more compelling than the show itself.

Lost in the pissing and the moaning regarding the officiating is the fact that Seahawks punter Tom Rouen hurt his team's ability to take advantage of a piss-poor performance by the Pittsburgh offense through three first-half punts into the end zone. At a time when the Steelers' offense was moving worse than the bowels of a cheese addict, the 'Hawks could have gone a long way toward taking charge of the scoreboard if Rouen hadn't ruined things by continuing to drop the pig onto the paint.

Meanwhile, Seattle kicker Josh Brown cost his team six points by missing two long-but-makeable kicks. It would have made the last few minutes of the game a lot more interesting if the Seahawks had been trailing by only five points.

No disrespect to Hines Ward, but he shouldn't have gotten the free Escalade on Sunday. We would have instead given the Pete Rozelle Trophy and the ride with the big wheels and the blingy headlights to Antwaan Randle El.

Sure, Ward had the stats. Five catches for 123 yards and a touchdown, and an end around for 18. But he dropped a sure six-pointer, which MVPs just don't do. (Al Michaels and John Madden suggested that Ward wouldn't have been able to get both feet down on the play, but the replay suggested otherwise.)

Randle El didn't have the numbers, accounting for only 98 total yards. But he delivered three key plays for the Steelers. He converted the team's first first down of the game via a juggling run-and-catch. He threw the game-deciding touchdown pass. And he turned a shovel pass into a critical first down late in the game, as the Steelers were trying to kill the clock.

Also, Randle El missed only two plays after suffering what looked initially to be a serious injury after returning a second-quarter punt.

And the impact of the MVP award goes much farther beyond a new SUV and a fresh piece of hardware for the mantle. Randle El will be a free agent in less than four weeks. The resulting Vince Young effect would have delivered for Randle El the same kind of above-market deal that past Super Bowl MVPs received during the salary cap era, including Larry Brown, Desmond Howard, and Dexter Jackson.

For Ward, the MVP award just might have secured a spot for him in Canton, even if the Steelers don't win another Lombardi during his career.

On that topic, we think that the 2005 Steelers ultimately could place as many as six guys in the Hall of Fame -- Ward, coach Bill Cowher, running back Jerome Bettis, guard Alan Faneca, safety Troy Polamalu, and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Although safety Troy Polamalu remains one of the most dominant defensive players in the NFL, he was MIA during Super Bowl XL. Maybe it was because of his ankle, which was injured on Wednesday and caused him to miss Thursday's practice. Or maybe the Seahawks came up with a way to neutralize him. Regardless, it was an uncharacteristically average performance for a guy who has a very bright future in the league.

We were troubled when we heard that Pats quarterback Tom Brady would be flipping the coin for the Super Bowl. The ultimate competitor, Brady shouldn't want to be at the game unless his team is playing in it. Instead, he was the center of attention just before kickoff.

Then it occurred to us that Brady likely believes that his team is better than either of the Super Bowl participants, and that he believes the Patriots would have beaten the Steelers or the Seahawks if their paths had crossed in the Super Bowl. So why not, as Brady possibly concluded, show up for the game and remind them all that the truly best team in the NFL wasn't in attendance?

Of course, the Pats could have had a crack at the Steelers in the wild-card round, if they hadn't laid down (as some believe they did) in the regular-season finale at home to the Dolphins. The thinking is that New England gladly took a loss during Week Seventeen in order to host the Jags as the four seed, instead of the Steelers as the three seed.

But for the Denver Broncos, the Pats' plan (if that indeed was the plan) would have been successful, with the Steelers forced to go to Foxborough for the AFC title game after upsetting the Colts.

Still, the Patriots didn't qualify for the game, and we think that Brady should have passed on the chance to take a piece of the spotlight from the teams that made it there.

We've never been big fans of the Rolling Stones. We like some of their stuff, which is often brilliant in its simplicity.

But . . . it's . . . over. Men in their 60s don't prance and cavort and sing songs about women making dead men, um, excited -- especially when each of them is so close to becoming one of the very dead men to whom they refer.

We'll give them credit, however. The quality of their live performances hasn't eroded over time -- primarily because it was never very good to begin with.

As to the debate regarding whether the offending word from Start Me Up was bleeped by ABC or by the production itself, it sure sounded like a self-censor job, since the music could still be heard plainly at the instant that the term (which has made it way through years and years of radio play without incident) was blocked. Pressing the kill button usually results in a pulse of total silence.

And how about the black dude playing bass? If they'd placed him any farther from the rest of the band, he would have been plucking the four-stringer from inside the Seahawks' locker room.

Overall, the intermission show was very poor in comparison to last year's performance by Paul McCartney. And it makes us wonder what the NFL will do in 2007. All of the acts that appeal to multiple generations have played the gig. And with the league firmly committed to avoiding the wardrobe malfunctions and/or general impudence of more modern acts, there's a shrinking pool of pop/rock artists who are still out there.

A league source tells us there's a rumor making the rounds that the Raiders will hire Ravens offensive coordinator Jim Fassel, if Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt doesn't become the new head coach in Oakland.

At one point, we believed that the Raiders had a secret college coach in the mix, and that they were waiting for the February 1 letter-of-intent deadline to pass before announcing the hire. But it's been nearly a week since the new crop of recruits committed, and with each passing day the chances of a surprise NCAA arrival grows smaller and smaller.

As the e-mails continue to click in at an unprecedented pace, with 90 percent of the readers complaining about the officiating from Super Bowl XL (and many suggesting that the fix was in), we've come to a final conclusion.

The NFL, as we see it, has a problem. A big one. A bigger one, in the bigger picture, than the looming CBA crisis.

Specifically, the NFL has a perception problem. And perception, as they say, is the awareness of the elements of the environment through physical sensation.

Oh, wait -- that's the textbook definition of the term. The rest of the world says that perception is reality.

And the perception is that the NFL is not fully committed to ensuring that accurate calls are made. A growing minority perceive that the NFL is actually dictating the outcome of games through officiating.

The reality, in our opinion, is that the NFL doesn't fix games. But there are just enough circumstances in which human nature has influenced key calls that have influenced the outcome of just enough key games to justify a belief among folks who usually don't buy in to conspiracy theories that a conspiracy is somehow at work.

So what to do? Our suggestion is that the NFL should take immediate steps aimed at a gradual but comprehensive overhaul of the manner in which games are officiated. The easy answer that many have offered is a requirement that the zebras be full-time employees of the NFL. But we believe that such an approach would cause more problems than it would solve, since plenty of the very bright men who sign on to be officials would be disinclined to give up their far more lucrative primary careers. As a result, the full-time officials would generally be cut from a lesser cloth.

The better answer, in our view, is for the NFL to fully embrace the advancements of technology. Here we are in the year 2006, and still the only things other than the naked eye on which the NFL relies in officiating games are: (1) two orange sticks separated by ten yards of metal chain; (2) a ticking clock; and (3) periodic reference to video footage that is otherwise instantly available to the millions of persons who watch the games on television.

When it comes to the use of technology in order to generate revenue, the NFL is roughly on par with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. But when it comes to the use of technology in order to regulate its on-field product, the NFL is the equivalent of the grandma and pap-pap who let the microwave oven sit on the counter for six years before conjuring the nerve to plug it into the wall.

So it's high time, in our opinion, for the NFL to think creatively about ways that it can help its officials do a better job. We've previously argued that the NFL should install a computerized system into the end-zone pylons that would determine whether the ball touches the plane. If such a system were in place, one of the most hotly-debated calls from Super Bowl XL (i.e., whether Big Ben got the tip of the ball onto the front of the goal line) would have been a no-brainer. Per the computer system, the ball either went in, or it didn't. Sure, some people would still bitch about the outcome, but it would be another level of protection over and above the frailties of one man making a snap decision and the inherent imperfection of camera angles.

Although there were no controversial calls regarding whether a team made a first down during the Super Bowl, we've previously written about a laser-based system that permits the entire thing to be controlled and determined without the sound of the men . . . working on the chain . . . gang.

Think about that one for a second. We're doing James Bond sh-t with home electronics and the question of whether a professional football team covers ten yards of turf in four plays or less is still determined by two dudes who supposedly are holding big ugly poles in perfect position.

Here's the biggest innovation we're proposing. Video replay should become an integral tool for the determination of whether the officials got it right. And not just for the stuff that currently is reviewable -- for everything.

The key here is to come up with a quick and reliable way of permitting the replays to be checked. But the answer is easy. The NFL should install at each stadium a secure wireless network that would allow key shots to be immediately fed via a replay official working in the network trailer to a screen that is either strapped to the referee's wrist or palm.

And the referee should have the ability, upon review of the images between plays, to change anything.

For example, on that very questionable offensive pass interference call that wiped out a first-quarter touchdown reception by Seahawks receiver Darrell Jackson, Bill Leavy could have promptly looked at the replay on his Dick Tracy wristwatch and concluded that there were offsetting penalties on the play, since there was illegal contact with Jackson as he was entering the end zone.

Or Leavy could have decided that, although Jackson's arms were extended, there was no actual push.

Some will argue that such an approach will rob the officiating process of its human element. But, as the NFL gets bigger and bigger, that's precisely what needs to happen. The league must acknowledge that the officials are human, and the league needs to come up with ways to account for it.

Indeed, there's a theory making the rounds in league circles that the officials possibly still hold a grudge against Seattle coach Mike Holmgren for exposing the fact that the league secretly had apologized to him for some bad calls during a regular-season game against the Giants. Though, again, we doubt that Mike Pereira circulated a memo telling the zebras to mule kick the Big Show right in the Little Show, human beings are influenced from time to time by subconscious motivations. (If you don't believe it, just ask any Raiders fan.)

As to the notion that such a procedure will make the games longer, we disagree. First, not every play is going to require a review. Second, many of the plays can be reviewed as the offense is preparing for the next play. Third, if the ref needs to blow the whistle four or five times per game in order to double-check the video, so be it. It's far better for the game to go an extra ten minutes with complete integrity than it is to wrap the thing up and having folks bitching for the next five days about yet another display of incompetence.

So we send out a call today to everyone in and around the NFL to embrace the notion of dramatically upgrading the officiating process. And if anyone can come up with an argument against looking actively for ways to help out a bunch of middle-aged men trying to fix their middle-aged eyes on a bunch of kids whose body parts move in a cluster of blurs, we'd love to hear it.

We raise these points not to cause trouble, but because we believe that the NFL is the greatest diversion available to us all, and that the NFL has to be willing to protect its standing not through clever P.R. ploys aimed at convincing us that there really isn't a problem, but through acquiring an unwavering obsession to using whatever means necessary to get every call in every game right.

The perception, and the reality, are that the NFL currently does not demonstrate such dedication.

Which is feeding the perception that the NFL is, at its core, no different than the WWF.

49ers quarterback Joe Montana and Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw reportedly skipped out on the parade of Super Bowl MVPs prior to Super Bowl XL regarding the money, or lack thereof, that was available for the appearance.

The guys who appeared received $1,000 for incidentals, along with plane fare, a rental car, and game tickets.

Montana reportedly wanted $100,000. Bradshaw denies that his absence was due to money.

We're inclined to believe Bradshaw, since he had every reason to show up for, the game. The adoring crowd would have pumped more air into his oversized noggin, and he indirectly would have been helping to promote his role in the upcoming film Failure to Launch. In fact, we recall seeing Bradshaw on the set of the NFL Network at some point during the past week of oblongata-numbing Super Bowl coverage, so we doubt that he didn't