Ask PSR Anything Compiled
By Joe Giardina

"The Steelers are actually playing what we call 2-man, which means they have two deep safeties and they have a man underneath. So everyone [on the Cardinals] has a man-to-man route. They didn't blitz, they only rushed four. And the bottom line is Larry Fitzgerald just beat Ike Taylor. It can't be any simpler than that."

"Larry does a good job. When he comes off the ball Ike is playing him to the inside already, but Larry does a good job of re-establishing vertically first. That's what allows him to get back inside. He can't get inside unless he initially threatens Ike Taylor vertically, which he does. Once he does that, he creates the separation and he's off to the races.

Now they have two deep safeties and Troy Palamalu is lined up on Larry's side, too. But he jumps to help on Anquan Boldin, who runs an out route. Really, the key is Ike Taylor should never get beat inside - ever, ever, ever - in this coverage. He can't get beat like this. That's why he lines up inside and that's why Larry does a good job of getting to the inside with the way he ran his route. He starts going inside, then he realizes Ike is playing hard inside, so he pushes him vertically again and then separates."

"Larry's route running skills beat Ike Taylor's coverage technique. In the other routes, the other safety up top jumps an out route, and Troy jumped an out route to help both slot defenders, so that's why the safeties disappear. And then it's about a race to the endzone. The tape doesn't lie."

- ESPN's Merril Hoge