On a recent episode of The Pivot Podcast with Ryan Clark, Hall of Fame RB LaDainian Tomlinson joined them as a guest. He talked a little about one of his most devastating memories in the NFL, which was losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game during the 2010 season, but they also discussed some fonder moments from Tomlinson’s career. One of those happened to be against Clark in an overtime game where Tomlinson delivered a nasty stiff arm on his way to the end zone to secure victory.
This happened while Clark was a member of the Washington [Commanders] in 2005, the year before he joined the Steelers. They lost the game 23-17, their third-straight loss in the back half of the season, so you know it hurt a little extra for Clark. Here is what he said about the stiff arm during a clip of his podcast posted on X.
“If you go back, I think it was 2005 overtime, bam! Yeah, that was me,” Clark said, describing the feeling of being on the other end of a Tomlinson stiff arm. “I couldn’t even reach. You know how, where you get embarrassed on the way down to the ground on the stiff arm, so amazingly you pop up quick? I got up off that ground so fast.”
Within the clip below posted by Clark is footage of the stiff arm that he was describing.
The stiff arm was a well-talked-about play at the time. Apparently, Clark’s future teammate Larry Foote took notice. When Clark joined the Steelers the next season, he said, “Larry Foote didn’t talk to me because all he could remember is LT’s walk-off, overtime stiff arm of me the year before in Washington.”
In his post, Clark mentioned a time when he got back at Tomlinson for the stiff arm, which Clark described as embarrassing. Attached to the tweet above is a clip of Clark’s revenge on Tomlinson, pulled by our Alex Kozora on X.
It’s just a couple of former athletes having fun at each other’s expense on The Pivot Podcast. It is funny how these athletes remember minor defeats throughout their careers and use them to fuel their future successes.
Clark was far from the only defender victimized by a Tomlinson stiff arm throughout his illustrious career, but he may be one of the few to successfully exact revenge.
