When the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals confronted off in Tremendous Bowl XLIII it was a David versus Goliath story. The Steelers had 5 Tremendous Bowls getting into the sport and are probably the most storied franchises in NFL historical past, whereas the Cardinals had by no means been to a Tremendous Bowl and had been principally identified for his or her mediocrity. For then-Cardinals rookie DB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, he felt like Pittsburgh was on a unique degree initially of that sport.
“That first play, it appeared like they had been giants,” stated Rodgers-Cromartie in a 2023 interview on For The Athlete. “Like that’s the largest workforce I’ve ever seen in my life. And the primary play they run a sweep my approach and two massive lineman pull at me and push m out of bounds and roll me over.”
Though it was not the primary play, on the primary drive Max Starks pancaked Rodgers-Cromartie on a pitch to RB Willie Parker for a pleasant acquire.
Getting into Tremendous Bowl XLIII, the Steelers had been just a few seasons faraway from successful Tremendous Bowl XL returning with largely the identical workforce. Most gamers on Pittsburgh had been relaxed and assured as a result of that they had received a Tremendous Bowl earlier than. The Cardinals, and significantly Rodgers-Cromartie, lacked that have. Now, they had been on the world’s largest stage, dealing with a workforce that had lately hoisted a Lombardi.
Rodgers-Cromartie had a powerful NFL profession spanning 12 years wherein he tallied 30 interceptions and 146 cross breakups. However, Steelers followers will keep in mind him as one of many defensive backs within the space when Santonio Holmes caught the game-winning landing within the Tremendous Bowl.
Nonetheless, Rodgers-Cromartie thinks that if he was a bit nearer to Holmes he would have damaged the cross up.
“Incomplete cross,” stated Rodgers-Cromartie when requested what he thought would occur if he was in protection. “As a result of I had the leaping capability the place I may have knocked it down. However, I’ll say this. That tells you ways a lot teaching and sport planning [goes] into one thing, as a result of they knew I used to be an aggressive nook, they usually knew I take my probabilities it doesn’t matter what. And so they put one thing in entrance of me to allowed me to come back down, for him [Holmes] to sneak into behind me and it was an excellent thrown ball.”
As Rodgers-Cromartie explains, his concentrate on WR Hines Ward’s brief curl route prevented him from attending to the again of the top zone in time. As you’ll be able to see in this video posted by Irishcrimson on YouTube, Rodgers-Cromartie bites on Ward’s route, leaving him flat-footed and unable to make a play on the cross to Holmes.
His feedback are older however price revisiting given the magnitude of the sport. Given a do-over, maybe NFL historical past would’ve modified perpetually.
We’ll by no means know if Rodgers-Cromartie would have been in a position to make a play on the cross had he been in place, however credit score needs to be given to then offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. The spacing on the play was nicely thought out, and it led to Holmes being large open for simply sufficient time within the again nook of the top zone for QB Ben Roethlisberger to search out him.
Fortunately for the Steelers, this time Holmes caught the ball, one thing he didn’t do main up the sport.
