He won't be on the field Sunday night. Not in the flesh, anyway.
Smacking anything wearing a Pittsburgh uniform. Exhorting on his Arizona teammates in a way as unique as the man himself.
The Vegas oddsmakers have made the Cardinals 6 and 1/2 point underdogs in their Super Bowl XLIII matchup with the Steelers.
That's fine with them. A betting line never caught a pass, never made a tackle.
Besides, they won't be alone in their championship quest.
Somewhere inside Raymond James Stadium, No. 40 will be watching.
"We are still thinking of him,'' said Arizona's Adrian Wilson, "and he is still here with us in spirit.''
The longest-tenured Cardinal, Wilson is one of the few Arizona players who knew Pat Tillman. Wilson was a rookie strong safety in 2001, Tillman's last year in the NFL.
Any other veteran might have ignored a rookie, especially one with aspirations to take his job. It's a person with a different X and Y chromosome makeup who actually goes out of his way to help.
But that was Pat Tillman.
"Pat helped with the playbook,'' said Wilson. "He helped me learn how to practice and do a lot of things that I didn't know how to do.
"I think Pat eventually knew that I was going to be the guy who would take over his spot, and he didn't have any problems with that. He showed me the right way to do things.'' http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090130/COLUMNIST/901300336/-1/NEWSSITEMAP
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