TAMPA, Fla. — The best of the former Broncos playing in Super Bowl XLIII is Bertrand Berry.
The Arizona Cardinals’ defensive end/linebacker has seven sacks, counting two in the postseason, this season despite a torn groin that forced him to miss two early games.
Come again why the Broncos didn’t keep him after he helped them to the playoffs with 11 1/2 sacks in 2003? The next season, with Arizona, Berry had 14 1/2 sacks.
Berry is far from bitter. Recalling his time in Denver, he mentioned the playoffs, friendships that have lasted, the supportive fans.
And he credits Rick Smith, the Broncos’ former front-office assistant who is now Houston’s general manager, for rescuing his career. Berry was so far removed from the NFL in 2000, he was cut by the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. The next year, Smith gave Berry a tryout.
“I remember sitting in his office and I just went through their little workout and he said, ‘Hey, with your skills and your athletic ability, we’ve got to put you somewhere,’ Berry said. ” ‘We definitely think you can play this game, and we’re going to give you a shot.’ And to me, that’s all I was looking for. I just wanted a shot.”
The Steeler City.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was asked what his team means to its city.
“On Monday morning, you can tell whether we won or lost the game, just by the mood of the city,” he said. “The weather, the way people drive, everything. They don’t want to go to work on Monday if we lost, and if we win they like to wear their jerseys in (to work). We like to play for them.”
Cardinal receivers endorse Haley.
As the Mike Shanahan-to- Kansas City rumor mill has appeared to shut down, Arizona offensive coordinator Todd Haley has been mentioned as a top contender to replace recently fired Herm Edwards as the head coach of the Chiefs.
The Chiefs would be unable to interview Haley until after the Super Bowl.
Haley has been a prominent figure over the last week, as much for a verbal sparring match with receiver Anquan Boldin as for his choreography of the Cardinals’ offense.
Boldin and fellow receiver Larry Fitzgerald on Monday said they believed Haley would be a good head coach.
“Todd has such a great passion for the game,” Fitzgerald said. “He has a great understanding, a feel for it. Not just offensively, but defensively, because he can really grasp what the pulse is of the team and he can push the right buttons with guys. He knows what makes everybody tick.”
Injury update.
Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward will not practice until Thursday because of a sprained right knee. . . . Boldin said he is completely recovered from the injured hamstring that kept him out of the Cardinals’ divisional- round playoff game against Carolina. Boldin played in the NFC championship game.
Mike Klis and Lindsay H. Jones, The Denver Post
