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Dockett Pushes Through

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By IRA KAUFMAN

ikaufman@tampatrib.com

Published: January 23, 2009

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Sunday's NFC Championship Game ended amid a deafening roar, with Darnell Dockett cradling a football in his massive arms.

Arizona's 27-year-old defensive tackle had just been tackled on a fumble return, concluding a Keystone Cops sequence that saw the desperate Eagles using deliberate fumbles and a lateral on their final snap in a failed effort to make up a 32-25 deficit.

If Dockett squeezed the ball to his chest with a little extra zeal, please understand the improbable road he and his teammates have traveled to the Feb. 1 Super Bowl in Tampa against the AFC champion Steelers.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime feeling," Dockett said after the Cardinals posted their third postseason upset in as many weeks. "Everyone counted us out. Nobody gave us a chance."

Darnell Dockett knows what it's like to face long odds.

On July 4, 1994, 13-year-old Darnell Dockett was merely trying to survive.

He arrived home in Decatur, Ga., on Independence Day to find his mother, Cheryl Hambrick, dead from an execution-style gunshot wound to the head.

The case hasn't been solved, but Dockett acknowledges that his mother had been involved with the illegal drug trade.

Dockett moved to Maryland to live with his father, but four months later, Dockett's father died from pancreatic cancer.

"After my parents died, he took me under his wing," Dockett said, referring to his uncle, Kevin Dockett. "He didn't have to. He had kids of his own. I owe everything to him. Without him, I wouldn't be here right now."

Dockett went on to a checkered career at Florida State, earning ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2003 before being selected in the third round of the 2004 draft.

Some NFL executives were wary of Dockett, who was accused by former Gators coach Steve Spurrier of trying to intentionally injure the knee of running back Earnest Graham in 2001.

Dockett was also suspended for FSU's 2003 Sugar Bowl game for his role in a mall scam that involved free merchandise.

While the sizzling passing combination of Kurt Warner to Larry Fitzgerald garners most of the headlines, Dockett has emerged as the catalyst for Arizona's remarkable defensive transformation.

"Darnell's a character," said Cardinals defensive end Antonio Smith. "He'll make a play and it ignites the fans and it ignites us. It sends a surge through us to see how much passion he plays with. That's one of his gifts."

Dockett may have turned in the biggest play of Arizona's 30-24 triumph against the Falcons in the opening playoff round, anticipating the snap count and forcing a botched exchange between rookie quarterback Matt Ryan and Pro Bowl running back Michael Turner.

Safety Antrel Rolle scooped up the fumble on the second play of the third quarter and dashed 27 yards to put Arizona ahead 21-17, a lead the Cardinals never relinquished.

"You play with a chip on your shoulder in this game," said Dockett, who registered four sacks, three fumble recoveries and a team-high 13 quarterback hits during the regular season. "If you're not able to play with a chip on your shoulder, you need to retire and give this game up, because this is all ego. This is a man's game, pretty much."

Dockett's breakthrough season came in 2007, when he earned his first Pro Bowl trip and led all NFL interior linemen with nine sacks.

On Monday, he will board a charter flight to Tampa, determined to end this inspiring tale in style by contributing to yet another upset win.

"This is for all the people who were Cardinal fans since the first day we got here," he said. "The ones in Sun Devil Stadium in 2,000 degrees with 10,000 people. I think back about that all the time. Yes, we did it ... the Arizona Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl."

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