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Cards: Skirmish Is Not An Issue

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By IRA KAUFMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 20, 2009

TEMPE, Ariz. - With their Super Bowl matchup against Pittsburgh still 12 days away, the NFC champion Cardinals are busy putting out fires.

On Monday, former FSU standout WR Anquan Boldin downplayed the significance of his sideline exchange with offensive coordinator Todd Haley during the late stages of Arizona's 32-25 victory against the Eagles.

"It's not a problem at all," Boldin said on ESPN's "NFL Live" show. "I wasn't given an explanation for why I was taken out. But I'm committed to this team and I have one goal in mind - to win the Super Bowl."

After registering the fourth 1,000-yard season of his six-year NFL career, Boldin has been hampered by a groin strain that limited him to four receptions Sunday. He and Haley clashed after Boldin was lifted for second-year WR Steve Breaston on the game-winning drive.

"These guys are highly intense competitors - those things happen in games all the time," Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said.

QB Kurt Warner also shrugged off any notion that Sunday's dustup could prove disruptive to Arizona's Super Bowl preparations.

"I don't think there are any issues there," Warner said. "It happens. Anquan is a competitor and he wants to be in there helping us win. Your competitive juices just fire and you let it go."

Boldin was asked about reports that he left the locker room abruptly after the game while his teammates were celebrating a historic win for a downtrodden franchise.

"I didn't leave through a back door," he said. "I tried to beat the media. I didn't want the story line to be me and Todd getting into it on the sideline. I have a commitment to everyone in that locker room when I step on the field ... and that will not change."

TRAVEL PLANS: Melanie Brdar, 35, moved to Tucson, Ariz., from Pittsburgh two years ago and she was proudly wearing a Steelers cap Monday morning in a Phoenix airport hotel, knowing she was treading in hostile territory.

"For Steeler fans, it's not just about the football," she said. "This has been engraved in us since youth. In Pittsburgh, you can run into a 6-year-old girl and she can tell you who Troy Polamalu is and spell his name. Our fans are coming to Tampa next week whether they have a ticket or not."

Brdar currently has no plans to attend the Feb. 1 Super Bowl, but she's ready to quickly adjust should a ticket become available.

"Pittsburgh fans will take out a second mortgage to get a ticket to this game," she said. "And Tampa bartenders are going to love them because these people are the best tippers in the world."

NO RESPECT: The Cardinals have been underdogs for all three playoff games and that trend will continue against the Steelers, who have been established as seven-point favorites.

"People have doubted us all the way through, but that's all right," said NT Bryan Robinson, a 12-year veteran who joined Arizona as a free agent in April. "We're the best team in the NFC right now and on the evening of Feb. 1 in Tampa, I want us to be called the best team in the NFL. The Giants got hot last year and went all the way by playing desperate. We can do it, too."

Ira Kaufman

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