Less than a month ago, Bruce Arians took over as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. Many wondered what the hire would spell for defensive coordinator Ray Horton. Would Arians keep the quote, unquote hot coaching prospect on board, or did he already have someone else in mind?

It turns out that he already had someone else in mind from the get go. According to Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com, "Head coach Bruce Arians also made it plain [Todd] Bowles was always going to be his guy as defensive coordinator if he ever was a head coach."

That, in turn, means the whole Horton discussion was irrelevant anyways. Based on his handling and the way things transpired when it was announced he wouldn't be the 39th head coach in Cardinals history, he was already halfway out the door.

Seemingly, everyone wins. Horton gets a nice pay increase as he heads to Cleveland and Arians hand-picked his hire. As expected, Bowles will keep the team's current 3-4 system intact, but I wouldn't expect it to resemble Horton's 3-4 scheme.

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Despite allowing the most sacks in the league last year, newly-appointed offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin believes there is indeed talent along the offensive line. No one on Bruce Arians' staff knows offensive-line play better than Goodwin.

Prior to accepting the Cardinals' offensive coordinator position, he spent six years coaching men in the trenches. From 2007-2011, he was the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line coach, and in 2012, he held that same position with the Indianapolis Colts. 

As soon he got settled into his new position, he got right to work trying to figure out who will stay in and who will go in 2013. Goodwin told Adam Green of ArizonaSports.com, "I've been watching the guys here recently and kind of like what I see. I think there's talent there."

The overwhelming number of injuries from 2012 will ultimately help Arizona evaluate the offensive line from top to bottom. Usually a season's worth of play may only allow a team to self scout six or seven players in game situations, but Goodwin will have the ability to scout nine or 10 different offensive linemen. 

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Since Joe Montana's playing days ended back in 1994, he has made commercial appearances for companies like Sketchers and Tivo. Yet none of those ever came close to being as big as Montana's most recent commercial shoot titled, “Miracle Stain.”

Tide's “Miracle Stain” commercial debuted during the Super Bowl and became an instant sensation. According to USA Today’s Ad Meter, the minute-long spot scored as the second-most popular Super Bowl commercial.

It finished behind the eventual winner by only one one-hundredth of a point. Regardless of its finish, the storyline is compelling. A 49ers fan hits the jackpot as he discovers a salsa stain on his Montana jersey that is the spitting image of the four-time Super Bowl champion.

The jersey stain makes the fan a celebrity overnight as people from around the world come to see the stain. San Francisco fans who come to catch a glimpse of the stain call it a Super Bowl miracle, but the jersey owner's wife has other plans.

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Les Snead and Jeff Fisher have struck gold yet again, this time in the form of a disgruntled wide receiver.

Finding viable weapons for quarterback Sam Bradford has been objective No. 1 for general manager Snead. Since taking over in 2012, he has delivered a plethora of young talent across the board at various positions. Most notably in the defensive secondary and at the skill positions on the offensive side of the ball.

Fourth-round pick Chris Givens led the team in receiving, seventh-round pick Daryl Richardson had the longest run of the season for the Rams out of the backfield and two of Brian Quick's 11 receptions went for touchdowns.

Surely questions loom large as expectations are heightened in year two, but when was the last time St. Louis had high production numbers from its rookie draft class? My point exactly, as the Rams have been one of the worst drafting teams over the last decade.

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Without question, San Francisco 49ers safety Dashon Goldson has emerged into one of the NFL's best safeties over the past two years. In both 2011 and 2012, he was named to the Pro Bowl. This past year also marked the first year where he was named to the league's All-Pro squad.

It took the former fourth-round pick out of Washington some time to come into his own, but seemingly defensive coordinator Vic Fangio helped speed up the process. Since Jim Harbaugh and his staff took over the Bay Area, Goldson has become a human turnover-creating machine.

From the beginning of the 2011 season to the end of the 2012 postseason, no 49er defender has been able to force more turnovers than his 14. Moreover, according to the analysts at Pro Football Focus, he amassed a plus-6.3 grade this season and he finished the season by allowing one of the lowest quarterback ratings against.

His 44.8 rating against was the ninth-lowest mark at his position leaguewide and the fourth-lowest mark in the NFC. An absolute step in the right direction after a subpar 2011 season in coverage. Last year, he was burnt to the tune of five touchdowns, 596 yards allowed and a quarterback rating against of 90.9. 

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When looking back at the final scoring play of the game, it's easy to see something has to be done about the way a holding call in the end zone affects the overall nature of the game. Especially with less than two minutes left to play.

According to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com, he counted at least seven holding penalties that went uncalled:

Not to mention, he is also right when he says a holding call wouldn't have changed a thing. The only thing a yellow flag would have done in the end zone was reward Baltimore with the same outcome they were gunning for in the beginning, a safety.

The constant holds by the Ravens punt team allowed punter Sam Koch to burn eight seconds off the game clock. Let's do some investigative work of our own and break down the film so we can see for ourselves who the perpetrators were.

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Despite trailing for 57 minutes, the San Francisco 49ers had played well enough to give themselves one more shot at Super Bowl glory. After a 33-yard Frank Gore run, San Francisco needed exactly seven yards, and it had exactly four plays to do it.

As you and 108 million other people know, Jim Harbaugh's play calls were questionable at best during that four-play stretch. Along with the officiating on San Francisco's last offensive play. Many felt wide receiver Michael Crabtree was held by cornerback Jimmy Smith—the no-call resulted in a turnover on downs.

There's easily a case to be made supporting both calls, but for now let's break down the Niners' embarrassing goal-line flop. Will further examination support Harbaugh's play calls and Colin Kaepernick's pre-snap reads? Or will it justify what we already know?

1st-and-Goal at the 7-yard line, 2:39 Remaining

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Jim Harbaugh and company needed five yards on three plays to take their first lead of Super Bowl XLVII. The lead change could have easily made their quest for six Super Bowls a reality, but questionable play calls and one specific no-call from the officials changed Sunday's outcome.

Despite the no-call, wide receiver Michael Crabtree had no problem with it, even if he was the one being held on the play. Crabtree told Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com, "It is what it is, man. It was the last play, and I'm not going to blame the refs. It is what it is. It came down to the last play and it didn't happen."

He's right. It didn't happen, yet many still believe that it could have happened if either Frank Gore or Colin Kaepernick were given a shot on one of the three final play calls. When reporters asked left tackle Joe Staley if he would have at least liked to have seen another run play on one of the downs from the 5-yard line, he replied with a simple, "Yeah."

Moreover, Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees surely expected to see some type of run play. More specifically, a quarterback run from Kaepernick. "We really thought it was going to be some kind of a quarterback run down in there, so basically we pressured almost every down in there." Pees told this to the media after the game.

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