AP
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch (16)
celebrates with tight end Heath Miller (83) after the two
connected on a 87-yard touchdown pass in the fourth
quarter against the Miami Dolphins in the opening game
of the NFL football season at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh last night.

STEELERS 28, DOLPHINS 17: Pittsburgh is always admirably tough, and backup QB Charlie Batch made Roethlisberger's scratch irrelevant. (Ben himself was hopping well on the sidelines for a guy who had an appendectomy four days ago.)

Dolphin coach Nick Saban, at right, was graceless both in the way he screamed at a player over a penalty (Lehan) and in pouting after no official noticed his little passive-aggressive toss of a challenge flag.

Game stories from Miami (The Herald),

Miami foiled in opener
Dan Le Batard | Loss wasn't all bad

and Pittsburgh,

Post-Gazette: TD interception return seals Steelers' 28-17 win
Tribune-Review: Miller's thriller

Related: Jerome Bettis -- "The Bus" who retired from Pittsburgh triumphant last year -- writes a column (called a blog) about being bored. From Bettis' blog: Life after football and bylined as a "NBC Sunday Night Football analyst," he writes,

At least now that I'm retired I won't have to hear from people about fantasy football. As a player you get real sick of fantasy because everywhere you go people were talking about it. Man, I was just trying to win a game. Now that I'm out of the NFL there's no way I'll start playing fantasy football, that'd be sacrilegious! That's what was causing me half the pain in the first place -- people wanting points instead of wins.

I added the Sunday Night Football schedule. (text - flash) to yesterday's assortment, so the Googlers will see them all in the same place.

About that (Proud as a peacock, NBC back in game), the Globe quotes Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Sports,

"We would not have been a bidder if the games had been played on Monday night," Ebersol said. "To have a game that would end at 12 or 12:30 at night would have harmed Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. Sunday night became the one place for us, and it started with the league moving its premier package from Monday to Sunday."

Well, maybe. The third game on Sunday has less appeal than coming home after work Monday night and zoning out with MNF. This week it leads with the much-hyped battle of the Mannings, Peyton and Eli, as the Colts play the Giants.

The Patriots opener against the Bills at 1 p.m. is the big game here. At SI.com, Peter King foresees New England 23, Buffalo 10.