With confirmation that Todd Haley is at the Steelers South Side facility today and will be named the team's offensive coordinator, Phase I of the modification of the Steelers offense is complete: they found their leader.

Now, there are plenty of broader picture issues that Haley and Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin will need to prepare for come minicamp, which is just three months away.

This list is far from all-inclusive, but much of the offensive transformation will be based on these three concepts:

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Steelers TE Weslye Saunders has been suspended for the first four games of the 2012 season, according to Scout.com reporter Aaron Wilson, and other sources.

There is no word on the reason for the suspension, but it's likely for one of two things: a third violation of the league's substance abuse police (two prior violations are confidential, the third results in a four-game suspension), or a violation of the league's policy on anabolic steroids and related substances, in which a first offense is subject to a minimum four-game suspension.

Simply put, it's either his third failed drug test or his first failed banned substances test. Either way, it'll be his first suspension, and the first Steeler to be suspended for either violation.

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Like the alleged Todd Haley hiring for the Steelers' offensive coordinator position or not, one thing that can - and should - be said is Mike Tomlin did his research.

NFL Network's Jason La Canfora, one of the first reporters to formally link Haley to the Steelers' open position, tweeted Monday Tomlin had met with former Raiders head coach Hue Jackson before news broke today of the reported offer to Haley.

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Reports are emerging, initially by Mark Carmen of 610 AM in Kansas City, Todd Haley will join Mike Tomlins staff as the Steelers offensive coordinator.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen has since confirmed Carmen's tweet, and Adam Schefter said the Steelers "plan to hire" Haley. The Steelers have not yet confirmed this on their web site, however.

Haley has shown a prowess for directing both successful passing offenses (Arizona) and running offenses (Kansas City), and is known for his creativity and football acumen.

Others have cited concerns with potential personality conflicts, after incidents in which Haley is seen yelling at his players on the sideline, only to have them yelling right back at him.

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Not a day has passed since the final second ticked off the clock in Super Bowl XLVI, the final game of the 2011 NFL season, but Las Vegas already has posted their first set of Super Bowl Odds for the 2013 season. God Bless America.

So, where do the Pittsburgh Steelers stand? Let's take a look.

2013 SB Odds

Green Bay Packers: 6/1

New England Patriots: 7/1

New Orleans Saints: 8/1

Philadelphia Eagles: 12/1

Pittsburgh Steelers: 12/1

Houston Texans: 12/1

Baltimore Ravens: 14/1

New York Giants: 15/1

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Several things stand out to me. Firstly, even though the New York Giants have proven to be wildly inconsistent during the regular season in recent years, their roster seems to be well suited to contend with the league's best once again in 2013. They're not excessively old on either side of the ball, they have a top-shelf quarterback, and the defense will likely only get better collectively.

I like the way they stacked the AFC contenders (though I think the Pats are terrible value at 7/1 right now; they'll fall down to the pack a bit at some point next season when their defense again starts to look like it's not championship caliber). But I think it's fair to rank the Steelers and Texans as the next best teams in the AFC. Watch out for Houston next season. If they can catch a few breaks in the injury department, they'll be a load to handle.

Ravens fans could easily argue, however, that their team belongs ahead of both the Steelers and Texans.
They did, after all, have New England on the ropes in the AFC Championship Game. Despite getting long in the tooth in places, the Ravens have drafted well in recent years and should improve in more areas than they regress.

Plenty of time to assess the strength of teams' rosters later this spring and summer once free agency and the 2012 NFL Draft have come and gone, but a fun first look at who's again expected to be in the conversation in the final stages of next year.

It was a classic in the score far moreso than the play on the field.

To put the Giants' 21-17 win in Super Bowl XLVI over New England as something epic is misguided. But they still won it. It was their fourth championship, and incidentally, New England's fourth Super Bowl loss.

An uneven and bizarre season came to a close in a way more fitting with the past than with the future. In the supposed Year of the Quarterback (thank you, ESPN), neither quarterback played particularly well through four quarters, and it was lesser heralded guys who won it for New York, and lost it for New England.

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After a rocky start from the Patriots, the judges will give the second quarter to the AFC champions. They take a 10-9 lead into the locker room in what has to be one of the faster first halves in recent Super Bowl memory.

All is certainly not lost for the Giants. DE Jason Pierre-Paul is making a bid to become the first defensive player to be named Super Bowl MVP since Ray Lewis in 2002, and is the only one ever to look about as fast as Lawrence Taylor's character in Tecmo Bowl (including Taylor).

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Good afternoon, and happy sixth anniversary of Pittsburgh's 21-10 win over Seattle in Super Bowl XL.

The 2012 version of the big game is here, and in case you haven't noticed, the Steelers are not involved in it.

That's never a good time, but I'm sure plenty of you have found your way to comfort through unhealthy foods, over-comfortable chairs and the ever-presence of malted hops and barley.

I know I have.

Anyway, the point is, it's the Super Bowl. Here's your place to chat about the commercials, wait in (ahem) anticipation for the halftime show (or extending your streak of not watching the halftime show to 28 years) or reminisce about the greatest non-game Super Bowl tradition that is no longer...The Bud Bowl.

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IX - Mike Tomlin broke down the SB matchup and shared what tunes he rocks out to while on a long road trip in an interview with ESPN Radio in New York earlier this week.

X - Many believe that Hines Ward will make the successful transition to NFL coach once his playing days are over. It might be more plausible that Ward begins his coaching career in the collegiate ranks, perhaps even at his alma mater, the University of Georgia.

XIII - The big news this week in Steelers Country was the election of Jack Butler and Dermontti Dawson to the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2012. Huge congratulations to both, but particularly Butler who was both an incredible player and one of the executives behind the scenes that transformed the Steelers organization. If you're unfamiliar with Butler's career legacy, there's no better place to start than Tim Gleason's interview with Butler here on BTSC several years ago.

XIV - It's Super Bowl Sunday, the final day of the 2011 NFL season. By now you know the story-lines of the New England Patriots and the New York Giants SB rematch, the sub-plots and the key matchups. You probably have also noticed that I have not been around these parts here much lately. That's because I started a new job in January with SB Nation that's kept me even more busy than I anticipated. The new job is working on SB Nation's new video initiative, which got underway after we were awarded one of YouTube's highly coveted Original Channel grants. For a longer read on YouTube's big bet, check out the cover story in an early January issue of the New Yorker.

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A couple of weeks ago, as I watched the final seconds of the AFC Championship game unfold, I couldn't help but realize just how much luck is involved in winning a championship. There was the Ravens' Lee Evans with the game-winning touchdown in his hands for a brief moment before having it knocked out at the last second. Just moments later, Billy Cundiff shanked a 32-yard field goal that would have tied the game and sent it into overtime. Instead, it was the New England Patriots who were off to Super Bowl XLVI while the Ravens players had to be thinking, "you mean we signed up for this?"

Even before those events transpired, the Ravens had to be thinking that. They spent the entire 2011 season trying to get to where their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, had been so many times in recent years--the AFC Championship game--but instead of playing it at home like Pittsburgh has been able to do so many times over the years, there they were getting ready to face Tom Brady's bunch at Gillette Stadium.

And that brings me to the point of this post. In my lifetime, I've been lucky enough to see the Pittsburgh Steelers play in five Super Bowls, and in every single one of them, there was at least a little bit of uncontrollable good fortune that helped them get there, and maybe even in some cases, win it all.

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