Going Down Hard

The Bucs and Steelers weren't the only ones with grass stains on their uniforms. Rodney Espinola had the respect of his colleagues for the streaks of green on the left sleeve of his brown uniform.
Espinola, 41, a trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol, had one of the most celebrated tackles of the night after a man ran onto the field midway through the fourth quarter. As he made a break for the south end zone, six officers approached him, and as the man turned back toward the field Espinola ran him down and tackled him on the 29.
"Not bad for an old man," said Espinola, a 6-foot-3, 260-pound man with 20 years experience with FHP who said he last made such a tackle as a high school cornerback in Massachusetts.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Florida
• football
• highway
• trooper
• tackle
• 2002
• bucs
• steelers
• fhp
• brighthouse
• monday
• night
• 12.23.02

[timaloha]

Nice hit, Rodney!