Playin' the Monday links

* Hey, hey, hey, Phat Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch, defensive linemen critical to the Titans, will be absent when the Steelers visit Nashville next week.

* Ruh-roh, the Titans' Keith Bulluck talked about Tennessee having its helmets up its, um, tailbone pads. LenDale White was less explicit but similarly repugnant about Tennessee's waltzing attitude leading to its 13-12 loss at Houston.

* Believe it or not, a Baltimore Sun poll shows its readers resoundingly believe that their Ravens are . . . not as good as the Steelers. Or are Steelers fans stuffing the virtual ballot box?

* Bawlmer pins the loss on that one drive, that one call, though Sun reporter Jamison Hensley added the explanations by referee Walt Coleman.

 

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Remember Samuel Louis-Charles, the ESPN.com's contest winner who initially felt he owed a present to Dallas quarterback Tony Romo for throwing the interception that lost the Cowboys that Dec. 7 game at Heinz Field and won this North Miami Beach, Fla., UPS package-handler a cool $1 million?

Louis-Charles won the so-named "Streak for Cash" competition by correctly picking 25 questions -- sometimes game outcomes, sometimes weird wagers such as World Series strikeouts. His million-dollar winning wager was a Steelers victory over Dallas, a game broadcast that Louis-Charles turned off with seven-plus minutes remaining and left for a lost cause at 13-3, promptly reporting to work. Without Louis-Charles looking, the Steelers scored 17 points, the last coming on Deshea Townsend's game-winning touchdown return of a Romo overthrow, and the black and gold won him a bunch of green.