FanHouse DarnellDockett

According to XTRA Radio in Phoenix, Arizona defensive tackle Darnell Dockett has requested a trade.

Dockett has three years and $11.25 million left in base salaries on his contract.

"It's not something I want to comment on right now," Dockett's agent Drew Rosenhaus told FanHouse Monday night. Rosenhaus said the report didn't originate from him or his client.

Dockett is one of the best players at his position in the game. He's played in 79 of 80 games since he came into the league in 2004 and he registered 55 total tackles, four sacks and 13 quarterback hits last season.

Anquan Boldin and Darnell Dockett are both a little upset with their current contract situation. Dockett's situation is a little less exposed because of the constant mention of Boldin's deal, but they're both looking for something new.

And they both have injured hamstrings. Which may or may not be true, but it wouldn't appear that coach Ken Whisenhunt is buying into the injury excuse.

The Arizona Cardinals are coming off the most successful season in franchise history. This offseason, they'll face a myriad of personnel decisions which could go far in determining it we witnessed a beginning or an outlier. In addition to the high profile cases of Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, and Edgerrin James, the Cardinals also have several other key issues to resolve.

Karlos Dansby and Antonio Smith are free agents. The contracts Adrian Wilson and Darnell Dockett should be addressed, and they need to hire three significant coaching holes -- offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach.

Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett walked off the field at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday with two sacks of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. But four days after Super Bowl XLIII, Dockett was credited with sacking Roethlisberger on the play shown above (which was first ruled a touchdown and then changed via instant replay to a zero-yard run), and he has now tied the Super Bowl record with three sacks in one game.

No matter how many times you may hear John Madden and Al Michaels say otherwise, the Steelers are no longer a power running team. Jerome Bettis is long gone, and Alan Faneca now pulls to lead runs in New York.

But if the Steelers are going to harken back to the days when they could run against any defense, it will likely be in part because of their G-Power run. It was their favorite play when Faneca was the left guard and, even without Faneca, it's still a key part of Pittsburgh's playbook.

Every week this season we've analyzed some aspect of line play for Between the Lines. So for the Super Bowl, we are analyzing all aspects of the battle at the line of scrimmage.

When you watch the Cardinals defense and try to discover tendencies, or pick out stars and weak spots, you can't help but get tripped up by one glaring problem -- if you go back and watch the Cardinals during the regular season, you feel like you're watching a different team than the one that cruised through the NFC playoffs.

Every week this season we've analyzed some aspect of line play for Between the Lines. So for the Super Bowl, we are analyzing all aspects of the battle at the line of scrimmage.

When you watch the Cardinals defense and try to discover tendencies, or pick out stars and weak spots, you can't help but get tripped up by one glaring problem -- if you go back and watch the Cardinals during the regular season, you feel like you're watching a different team than the one that cruised through the NFC playoffs.

The Arizona Cardinals are famous in 2008 because Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald (currently an unstoppable force), and Anquan Boldin comprise a ridiculous aerial attack. But the truth is that the Cardinal defense deserves a lot more credit than they're getting.

Look at the score, folks: it's 24-6. That's not just because the Cards offense is good and the Eagles are struggling. Troy Aikman keeps mentioning "missed opportunities" for the Eagles offense (right before Adrian Wilson comes tearing off the corner to smother McNabb), and I distinctly remember everyone (guilty as charged) blaming the totality of the Panthers' loss on Jake Delhomme and not the Cardinals defense.

The 'no respect' card is pretty common meme in sports; the Patriots are kings of playing it, and last year, the Giants used it for several weeks in a row en route to winning the Super Bowl.

As Kevin Blackistone noted, the Cardinals are very arguably the hottest team in the playoffs. But that's not stopping them from slinging the underdog card around left and right. Darnell Dockett, obviously, wanted to let people know they recognized the disrespect.