TAMPA, Fla. – In the regular season, the Cardinals were among the league’s worst teams as far as getting interceptions with only 13. But once the playoffs hit, watch out. It’s been a turnover festival and the Cardinals have a ticket to ride.
In the three games, they have eight interceptions, with nickel back Ralph Brown sharing the postseason lead with two after picking off Matt Ryan in the playoff opener and getting one of the five off Jake Delhomme in Carolina. Now Brown is aiming to commit some larceny against Ben Roethlisberger in Super Bowl XLIII.
“If we can be disruptive to Ben, he may throw some balls up, and we just have to capitalize on them,” Brown said. “You never know how a quarterback is going to respond to pressure and the blitzes. We feel like the last three games, the quarterbacks didn’t respond too well to our pressures. They were kind of throwing the ball up and forcing those, and we took advantage of it.
“Sometimes Ben throws balls up with a lot of confidence with Santonio Holmes and Nate Washington in areas that may have two people covering the wide receiver. We just have to make sure we come down with those balls.”
This is not the first time Brown has been in this city for a Super Bowl. He was a rookie with the Giants back in 2000, a fifth-round draft pick out of Nebraska who missed most of his first year with a lacerated kidney. Brown spent his first four NFL seasons with the Giants before hooking on with the Vikings, Browns and, for the past two seasons, the Cardinals. He has built a nine-year career and says his foundation was laid in New Jersey, even though he never won himself a starting job.
“I don’t look at it as any negatives,” Brown said. “I felt like they gave me my opportunity when they felt I was ready. When I was ready, I was the starting nickel [back] my fourth year, we had Will Allen and Will Peterson. I felt like the way they played me and put me in where they needed, I think it was right, I don’t have any qualms with that organization or the coaches because when I look back I wasn’t ready early.
“I was still amazed that Jerry Rice is on the other side or whoever, still caught up in amazement. I didn’t know I wasn’t ready, but they knew it. My experience there was phenomenal.”
