Perhaps the most important player on the field in Sunday's AFC Championship Game between San Diego and New England (which is -14 on WagerWeb.com) will be one who didn't even start for his team until Week 10.
San Diego cornerback Antonio Cromartie took the second half of the NFL season by storm.
On Oct. 28, Cromartie, then a backup, had two interceptions, returning one 70 yards for a touchdown, 91 total interception return yards, and a fumble recovery for another touchdown while playing against the Houston Texans.
The following week, Cromartie made history, returning a Vikings field goal attempt an NFL-record 109 yards for a touchdown.
The next week, Week 10, Cromartie made his first NFL start in place of the injured Quentin Jammer and intercepted three passes thrown by Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts, becoming the first player to intercept Manning three times in one game during the regular season.
The former Florida State star ended up making the Pro Bowl and leading the league with 10 interceptions. He also picked off Manning in the AFC Divisional Round playoff game and returned it for a TD - but there was a penalty on the return.
Cromartie will get much of the single coverage Sunday on Patriots receiver Randy Moss, who led the NFL with 23 TD receptions. Cromartie is big (6-foot-2, 203 pounds) and athletic enough to fight Moss for jump
balls. Very few corners can match Moss' speed and athleticism, but Cromartie is one of them."You can throw at him, but he's a good player," Chiefs QB Damon Huard said. "One thing you can't do is, if you've got one-on-one coverage with him, he's got pretty good ball skills. Even with a Randy Moss, you
might second-guess just throwing up a fade ball to him because of his athleticism."
Pats WR Donte' Stallworth knows they'll have to be real careful with Cromartie.
"He's a young guy, but he understands their scheme and what they want to get done. The guy had a hundred interceptions," Stallworth said. "I think he's got an extra arm or something. He's cheating somehow, but he's making a lot of plays. Like I said, we've not only got our hands full with not only their secondary, but their whole team."
Pats coach Bill Belichick has dismissed the relevance of his team's Week 2 victory over San Diego, thanks much to the fact Cromartie barely played in that matchup. In fact, Cromartie recorded 0 tackles, had 0 passes defensed and 0 interceptions in that Chargers loss. Moss, meanwhile, had eight receptions for 105 yards and two touchdowns.
"Cromartie is one of the top athletes in the game, an incredible talent who has what I call 'Florida speed," said former Cardinals coach Dennis Green. "They'll match up at times and won't be afraid to play man coverage, which some other teams might be reluctant to do.
"Will they let him go out and play Randy? I think they probably will on occasion, because he's that good of an athlete. They play [cover-2, with two deep safeties], but to do what they want to do, they cannot sit in it all day."
In New England's win last week against the Jaguars, Moss caught only one pass - only the 13th time in his career he has caught one pass or none in a game. Whenever that happens, Moss is usually on the losing team (4-9).
"Just being able to cover Randy Moss is probably going to be one of the biggest things for me," Cromartie said. "It's going to be a big challenge for me in trying to put myself out as one of the best corners in facing one of the best receivers in the NFL."
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