Arizona Cardinals fans sadly remember the end of Super Bowl XLIII, when Santonio Holmes made an amazing catch in the corner of the end zone to give the Pittsburgh Steelers the championship after it appeared that the Cardinals would win it. However, Cardinals fans might not be familiar with this story about that deciding play.
Former Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson, who is now a scout in the organization, recalled what went down and something he wanted in that situation.
In an interview on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM last week, he said when the Steelers got the ball back after Larry Fitzgerald scored the touchdown to give the Cardinals the lead, the defense was focusing on giving them different looks with personnel groupings.
“Going down into the red zone area, I can remember us being in nickel,” he recalled.
The pass was incomplete, leading to a time out.
“That play, I remember going to the sideline during timeout and I remember Clancy (defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast) asking us, ‘do you want to go dime’ and everybody on the sideline said yes,” he said. “I was looking at Clancy saying no I don’t want to go dime because I wanted to be back in the back playing safety. So we ended up switching personnel and playing dime. I ended up being the dime backer and the rest is history.”
Instead of Wilson playing on the back end for the game-winning play to Holmes, it was Aaron Francisco. Maybe it doesn’t change anything, but that is enough information to make a Cardinals fan wonder.
Wilson isn’t upset and doesn’t think about it. He said he doesn’t blame his coach or teammates. He was outvoted on the sideline and linebacker Karlos Dansby, whose instincts Wilson praised, was one who thought they should switch to dime.
Maybe with Wilson in the end zone in coverage, he would have kept Holmes from getting both feet down. Perhaps it would not have mattered.
But it does add a little extra wonder for fans in one of the franchise’s greatest “what ifs” in history.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
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