Back in June, when the news was still relatively fresh, CBSSports.com's Clark Judge spoke to various personnel types to help explain why Shaun Alexander's NFL career was probably over. Short story: "soft runner" label + Curse of 370 = forced retirement.

And two and a half months later, Alexander's still looking for work, although the Associated Press reports that the 2005 NFL MVP has no plans on getting on with life after football, and he expects to be signed any day now.

...[T]he 31-year-old Alexander believes his signing is imminent with one of a handful of teams that have provided "a constant flow of calls," including his hometown Cincinnati Bengals. So imminent, his extended family members in Northern Kentucky are suggesting a new name.

In Seattle, Alexander wore No. 37. ... "They want me to be Tres Siete," Alexander said Friday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, laughing at the twist on the Bengals star receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson now being officially recognized as Chad Ocho Cinco, to match his uniform number 85 in Cincinnati.

Here's a look at what's going on around the Blogosphere as we get ready for Texans-Steelers.

• Dagger over at Post Game Heroes is going in-depth as usual with a game preview that includes plenty of his frame-by-frame analysis.

• Behind The Steel Curtain looks at which Steelers will be under the gun in Week One.

• Blog N Gold has a heads-up on an interesting new book that highlights the 50 Greatest Plays In Steelers History.

• ESPN AFC North Blogger James Walker thinks the Steelers win 24-17 this weekend.

• Pete Prisco predicts a 10-point Steeler win over at CBS Sportsline.

• Football Outsiders predicts Santonio Holmes will have a big game.

• If you liked Die Hard Steel, the same blogger Neal is back this year with On The Black Side.

• And if you want to hear a lot of blathering about the game, I did a podcast with Chris over at Houston Diehards.

This sorta got lost in the exciting news that Chad Javon Ocho Cinco is now the official sponsor of Chad Johnson, but yesterday Mr. Eight Five commenced with pregame smack talking.

(For some reason, Ocho Cinco wasn't interested in talking about his name after going through great pains to make sure everybody knew he was changing it, but he was good ole Chad Johnson when it came to smacking his gums.)

"The last time we played, he [Bart Scott] cussed me out and told me to stay out of his huddle, and I took offense to that, so this Sunday I am going to hit him in the mouth," Johnson said. "He's really rude."

As for [Dawan] Landry, Johnson said, "He's always trying to be a he-man when there's a running play."

I'm certain Ocho Cinco won't be hitting Bart Scott in his mouth because everybody knows that Bart Scott will kill a fool. Or at least threaten to after getting his bell rung on national television. Plus, Chad's not that tough.

Maybe the most interesting thing to come out of the interview was Ocho Cinco's admiration for Ray Lewis.

As we get ready for week one matchup of the Cowboys and Browns, Ace Davis from his own Ace Davis Cleveland Browns Blog was nice enough to offer some insights on the Browns for this week's Behind Enemy Lines feature.

As we get ready for the Steelers-Texans game, here's three things that excite me about the matchup as a Steelers fan.

1. Duane Brown is a rookie left tackle.

Brown has looked very good, better than expected, during the preseason, but Dick LeBeau has to be spending late nights figuring out all kind of exotic blitzes to confuse the new left tackle.

James Harrison coming off the edge should be enough to give Brown all kinds of problems, but Brown won't get the chance to simply sprint to the edge snap after snap. He'll have to hesitate for just a half a step because he won't know if Harrison is blitzing or if he's going to drop into coverage, or if he's going to fake a blitz to the outside, then drop, while another linebacker or a defensive lineman comes looping in on Brown's inside shoulder.

If Brown can handle all the different looks he'll get this week, it's a good sign that he'll be all right all year, but as a Steeler fan, it's hard not to like this matchup.

As we get ready for the Steelers-Texans game, I laid out three things that look good for the Steelers. Now here are three worrisome aspects of the game for Steelers fans.

1. The Steelers offensive line will face a tough test.

Yes, we could say this every week, but facing Mario Williams will give Pittsburgh plenty of challenges. Williams will likely be facing Marvel Smith for most of the game, which is actually a very good thing for the Steelers. If Williams moves around and flops over to the other side, he could give Willie Colon nightmares, especially as Colon sometimes has trouble maintaining his blocks when he gets double-team help (something that would be required if he's asked to block Williams). If Williams is left on the right side, facing Smith, Pittsburgh can at least endure that with minimal problems.

Above is a screen-shot from Bengals.com of Chad Ocho Cinco's player page. The team has officially acknowledged Chad Johnson's name change ... and Chad will have "Ocho Cinco" on the back of his jersey this Sunday.

Chad Johnson legally changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco last week in Florida. What in the name of Domanick Davis Williams is going on!!! In his biography on his player page, he is still referred to as "Johnson".

Everyone around NFL circles are catching up. ESPN.com has his name changed. So does NFL.com's fantasy site. FanHouse's fantasy site, Fleaflicker.com, has also changed his name. Chad's Wikipedia page redirects to Chad Ocho Cinco and they do the ol' "find and replace" ... making all those "Johnson"s into "Ocho Cinco"s.

Well, almost everyone. The NFL Team Shop still doesn't have Ocho Cinco jerseys for sale ... but you could personalize one yourself.

The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that former Bengal Willie Anderson will sign a three-year deal with the Baltimore Ravens worth $11 million.

"It's cool," Anderson said. "The organization was real cool. I was kind of nervous."

Former Bengals wide receivers coach Hue Jackson, now Ravens quarterbacks coach, took Anderson on a tour of the Ravens castle-like facility in Owings Mills, Md.

"When Hue took me down into the locker room, I was nervous to meet all the guys," Anderson said, "but then Ray Lewis, Lorenzo Neal, Chris McAlister, all the guys, came running up to me, it made me feel at home."

Last week, Anderson was the longest tenured Bengal. On Sunday, he will be facing his old team when the Ravens host Cincinnati at Whatever-It's-Named-This-Year Stadium.

For Anderson, this is a pretty nice deal. Having lost his starting job, the Bengals wanted him to take a pay cut near $1.5 million. He refused and was quickly released. Now he gets a chance to start with a little more coin in his pocket.

Next up: revenge.

[NSFW ... with one foul word]

With the Bengals putting Jeremi Johnson on injured reserve, they signed fullback Reagan Maui'a to replace him. Maui'a played with the Dolphins last year ... but lost his starting job to Boomer Grigsby during training camp.

Who cares about that. Maui'a's claim to fame is this YouTube video of himself running through a wall. It doesn't look that amazing since it was a demolishion job and it was only drywall. Still, seeing someone "run through a wall" isn't a common sight.

That noise you hear is fantasy owners all across the Internet rushing to change their starting running back before that dreaded lock kicks in.

According to the Carroll County Times, my place for ground-breaking news, Ravens running back Willis McGahee might not be in the starting rotation this weekend against the Bengals because he is still struggling with his left knee. Rookie Ray Rice, who is ranked just four spots behind McGahee by Yahoo! Sports, could get the nod.

McGahee skipped most of the offseason conditioning program and minicamps, raising questions about his dedication and knowledge of the playbook. If he plays, it figures to be extremely limited action.

"When you've got Ray Rice out there practicing and you don't have McGahee, that's what you do," head coach John Harbaugh said. "That's what you become. So, Willis is a bonus in my mind because he hasn't been practicing anyway. If he gets out there, it's going to be great. We've got to go play on Sunday with the guys we've got and we plan on playing very well."