Instead of just working his usual long sideline routes, Fitzgerald went over the middle more. He started to break tackles, and improved his blocking downfield. He lost 15 pounds, which he says improves his run-after-catch ability. He spackled any perceived holes in his game. The Cardinals made him the richest receiver in football last offseason, and he responded by working harder.

Talk to anyone around the Cardinals and they will say that Fitzgerald gets better every day because of his attention to detail in meetings and practice. “I think Larry has worked very hard on some of the things that he wanted to improve on in his game,” Ken Whisenhunt lauded.

The great ones never feel they are truly great yet; they want more. Steelers players Hines Ward and Ike Taylor both called Fitzgerald the league's best receiver, but he doesn’t want to hear it. Fitzgerald said Wednesday that he feels “weird” being regarded as a dominant player, and simply that he “aspires” to be great. Ask him what he needs to improve, and it’s clear he’s a student of the game. He is still learning how to disguise his intentions to a defender, and how to run his routes more precisely each time out.

“The route running, the understanding of coverages, how to attack a defender. You see those things starting to click a little bit,” Warner said about Fitzgerald’s learning curve Wednesday. “You see him start to get a better understanding. You see him start to be able to slow the game down, where he can actually utilize the some of the things we’ve talked about.”

An improving Larry Fitzgerald is a grotesque thought for the rest of the league. Which leads us back to our original question: How can you stop him?

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Teammates and opponents agreed that the play is basically over if you let Fitzgerald go up for the ball. Others said that to beat him, you must disrupt his timing. Beat him up, and take some shots.

“As a safety, I’m going to hit him any time that I can. Try to tire him out,” Steelers backup Anthony Smith said.

Surging outside linebacker Lamarr Woodley had the most sensible suggestion. Don’t let Fitzgerald get a chance.

“To slow Larry down, you gotta go back there and hit the quarterback. You gotta hit the guy that is most dangerous. And the most dangerous is the guy with the ball.”

Troy Polamalu went with the shrugged shoulders approach. “I don’t really know (how to stop him). No one has been able to contain him yet.”

Larry Fitzgerald has taken his game to rarefied levels this season, but his biggest step remains. He’s a half-dozen long fingertip catches away from lasting greatness.

“Someone once asked me to sum up what Larry Fitzgerald has been able to do in 30 seconds or less,” Cardinals special teams ace Sean Morey said Wednesday. “I thought of this W.E.B. Duboise quote: ‘There is in this world no such force as the force of a man determined to rise.’ That encapsulates what’s going on with Fitz.”

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