Can I get a praise Jesus, Allah, Ganesh for the return of the NFL. Baseball is going to be boring as hell until October, when NHL is a mere month away and the NBA is still terrible, it's always good to have a beacon of hope to once again light our dark skies. And with that, good to have the NFL grace us with its presence. I was starting to miss the weekly Patriot, Tony Romo, TO PANEL discussions with such minds such as Trey Wingo, Emmitt Smith and Mark Schlereth.  I guess it's good though that you also FINALLY find a way to get Mark Schlereth off the streets.

An actual preview after the jump!

"If it happens to be there, I'm going to stomp all over that [pause], man," the running back told reporters after practice Sunday. "If there's a towel in the stands, I will stomp on it. I don't care who gets mad. ... If they throw a towel at me, I'm going to kick it and stomp all over it. If they don't want their towel stomped on, keep it out my face."

Lenwhale White, last year, stomped on the towel after the Titans beat the Steelers last season in late December. It wasn't just him as several players including all pro Keith "Sandra" Bullock did also. You'd think that was the sort of statement a team like Tennessee Titans needed as they went on the superbowl afc divisional round! Ha, yep, those flaming thumb tacks slopped and slathered their way to a one and done loss to the Baltimore Crows. How pathetic. Joe Flacco and his unibrow was able to go into Nashville and take a big dump in the Titan endzone. Actually it wasn't. The Titans just had one of those games where nothings going right and everythings a mess. Avril Lavigne lyrics aside, the Titans apparently feel they should have been in the superbowl so why not try to enact some revenge against the Picksburgh Steelers, your superbowl champions.

Offensively, the Titans aren't flashy. Chris Johnson is the only true game breaker they have on offense. They will run the football all game if they could. Lenwhale White spells Johnson and promptly chokes when it matters the most. Sure, they do their share of dinking and dunking and occasional playaction bombs but this team goes through their running backs. The biggest thing the Titans need to do is to get Chris Johnson in space. He is the only one that can do damage to this defense. I look for a lot of swing passes and screens to take advantage of the blitz happiness the Steelers use. The Steelers can stop the run but expect some damage here by the Titans.They have the best O-line in the NFC with the talent to limit the outside rush backers to minimal damage and the interior strength to carve some holes in the run game. Kerry Collins does not scare me especially without Nate Washington in the lineup. He will get some yards but expecting over 200 might be pushing it. Steelers must cover the TEs of the Titans especially if the rush doesn't get to Collins.

The game will be won and lost by the Steelers offense vs. Tennessee Defense. Last year, the Titan D-line dominated and harassed Roethlisberger all game. The same cast of characters who were in that game (including Jason Jones for Alberts Haynesworth) will be making appearances tonight. If the line can give Roeth time and open up holes for Parker and Mendenhall then the Steelers can run away with this (pun intended!) but this team will only go as far as these guys can take them. There will be games the defense can't keep holding opposing offenses down and this offense will need to step up. Can they with these cast of characters? Who knows..

Still for this game, I don't see the Steelers running with much success. They might have to go no huddle to get the Titans off their heals a bit. The secondary after starters, Nick Harper and Cortland Finnegan, can be had. I also expect Heath Miller to have a big game if he doesn't get ignored in playcalling or stuck helping RT, Willie "The" Colon.

This game will be hard hitting, defensive-minded and close but a late defensive touchdown gets the Steelers the win. The same blueprint it's been since last year.

Pittsburgh - 24

Tennesee - 16

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