Just over three weeks ago, former third-round draft pick Rasul Douglas was on the Arizona Cardinals practice squad -- the first time in his five-year NFL career that he had been relegated to a not-quite gameday group.
In the Packers' 24-21 Week 8 win over the Cardinals on "Thursday Night Football," Douglas ended up making the game's pivotal play, but it was for the Wisconsin crew and served his former team their first loss of the year.
On a wacky play that saw Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray fire towards wide receiver A.J. Green in the end zone -- with the former Bengals legend looking everywhere -- Douglas capitalized on the miscue and made the game-sealing, juggling interception with 12 seconds left in regulation.
RASUL DOUGLAS INTERCEPTS MURRAY. #GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/ZIDly9m0Bc
— NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2021
"You're in a crazy mental state being in the league five years, never been on a practice squad before, and then one day you're just on a practice squad," Douglas said, per ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "You feel like you're working for nothing, kinda. And then you get a call and you're somewhere else, and you're just playing. So I'm just thankful."
Douglas said it took him a moment to realize the magnitude of what he had just accomplished.
"That was probably the first time I've won a game like that. So it was like a shocking feeling, like, 'Oh snap, we just won off that play.' I was like kinda surprised," he said.
Douglas' last interception prior to Thursday came in Week 17 of the 2018 season -- a span of 1,450 defensive snaps -- which, according to ESPN Stats & Information research, was the fifth-most by a defensive back over the time frame.
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