What Happened to Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in Super Bowl XLIII?

by Hawkwind on Feb 3, 2009 12:44 PM MST in 2008 Playoffs Comment 10 comments

Heading into Super Sunday the Arizona Cardinals had to have felt like they had an answer for Santonio Holmes. He had burned the Cardinals during the 2007 regular season (6 receptions for 128 yards and 2 TDs) because he was simply to athletic for any of the Cardinals corners to match up with him, but this time they had Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. DRC was having a fantastic playoff run and he was a big reason why the defense had rebounded from a roller coaster regular season. He would certainly be able to match up with Holmes speed and quickness, or at least that's what we all thought.

Early in the game DRC looked like the kid that we've seen for the second half of the regular season and through the first three games of the playoffs. On the Steelers second series, he got deep just in time to break up a bomb to Nate Washington and he was half a step away from recording his third intercpetion of the playoffs. On their next drive, Ben Roethlisberger tried to get the ball deep down the sidelines to Holmes and DRC was there to break that one up as well. He didn't have the body control to be in position to intercept that pass but he showed the explosive closing speed to catch up to the ball and Holmes. Unfortunately, that was pretty much the last positive play that DRC made for the remainder of the game. It looked like he had decent coverage on Holmes for most of the game but he was just a half step behind him most of the time.

Maybe he finally hit the rookie wall, maybe the game was just too big for him, but either way he'll bounce back in 2009. What did you think of DRC's Super Bowl performance? Should he have been taken off of Holmes or was he not as bad as I remembered?

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Better place to post this

Sorry to repost, but this is where it actually belongs:

Our offense did it’s job, but the defense just wasn’t able to come through in those last two minutes. The real fault falls on our backs and the scheme’s Clancy Pendergast were calling.

Here’s what we learned from the number one team in Super Bowl History:

1) Play 60 minutes of football – Offense. I know I’m stealing that from Tomlin, but honestly that last “fumble” could have been avoided if your five man front would have been putting up effort against a three man rush. When I looked three guys were standing around and Warner was in trouble pretty fast. If it would have been INT’d, or even missed I’d have rather have seen that than Warner getting pressure from a three man rush.

2) Play 60 minutes of football – Defensive backs. Not to say they were slacking, but how do you not double the main guy that the ball is going to every single time for a game winning drive. Then when he gets to the end zone you have him all by himself and three guys saying “I thought you had him”. I was grinding my teeth waiting for the INT on that drive. We’ve done such a great job this post season, but it just wasn’t happening when we really needed it: T-minus two minutes.

Lessons learned from the school of hard knocks. We knew how to play 57:25 of football, we learned the hard way what can happen in those other 2:35.

by CardsFan08 on Feb 3, 2009 1:10 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

This analysis is right on the money

Congrats to the Cardinals for a great game. I was immediately uncomfortable when the Steelers failed to score the TD at the 20-7 mark even after being given a fresh set of downs. I became increasingly distressed as I saw the game steadily turn in the Cardinals’ favor during the 4th quarter. After Fitzgerald scored I thought the game was over. But as they did a number times during the season (including 3 times against the evil Ravens) the Steelers didn’t fold but instead stepped up when everything was on the line, and there was only one more chance to get it done. I admit I’m partial but to me performing such a feat in the face of the unbelievable downturn of the Cardinal’s score was truly amazing. Along with minimizing mistakes the “make big plays at crunch time” factor is typically very important to the making of a championship team.

by steelcurtain2 on Feb 3, 2009 6:26 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Steelers definitely showed they had the resolve of champions.

I must admit, however, that I’m still gloating at (and taking satisfaction from) the way Warner & friends carved up that vaunted #1 defense in the 4th Q — that “reincarnation of the Steel Curtain”, as some claimed, gave up 410 yards of offense and had to be bailed out by Roethlisberger/Holmes. :-D

Of course, all of that ultimately contributed to the greatness of this Super Bowl.

"Of course, it’s downright frightening to imagine how two Adam Dunns would turn the double play." - Joe Posnanski

by DbacksSkins on Feb 4, 2009 8:33 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

DRC was great, and saved two big catches, but where was the pick at the end of the game?

by CardsFan08 on Feb 3, 2009 1:10 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

actually he wasn’t. he started the game off strong then reverted back to just drafted DRC. he relied too heavily on his speed and not enough on his technique as the game wore on. i chalk it up to nerves, but he will be back and will be coached up to never let this happen again.

by hevchv on Feb 3, 2009 11:38 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

agreed

Dodgers - 2008 NL West Champions
Cardinals - 2008 NFC Champions

by wongy on Feb 4, 2009 12:24 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Great game guys

As a Seahawk fan, I was proud of your valiant effort.

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Feb 3, 2009 2:40 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

You cant forget he is still a rookie...

Playing in the biggest game of his life. Im sure if he was asked he would say he was nervous. All this does for DRC and the rest of the team at that, is make them better and more experienced.

Hey, hey, hey hey hey, watch the language, ok? I have a family.
Revenge of the Birds

by Andrew602 on Feb 3, 2009 2:45 PM MST reply actions 0 recs