Cardinals’ Karlos Dansby joins the 40-sack, 20-interception club

For 25 days short of two years, Arizona Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby had been hunting his 20th career interception.

He entered the 2017 season north of 40 career sacks, and with 19 career picks, he was one interception short of becoming just the fifth player in NFL history to surpass the 40-sack, 20-pick plateau. Sunday in the Cardinals’ 20-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers, he finally put himself on a shortlist of legends.

Dansby pulled a hanging, deflected C.J. Beathard pass out of the air on 1st-and-goal and with 2:35 left in the game to seal Arizona’s win.

“Time stood still for a hot second, man,” Dansby told 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Paul Calvisi after the game. “I was like, ‘Oh, is it going to be this easy?'”

Karlos Dansby INT clinches the #AZCardinals victory to go 4-4 #AZvsSF #BeRedSeeRed #BirdGang pic.twitter.com/pNP7r8AXEd

— Ronnie Laybold (@CoyotesGlendale) November 6, 2017

The 36-year-old in his third stint with the Cardinals joins fellow linebackers Seth Joyner, Ray Lewis, Wilber Marshall and Brian Urlacher in the 40-20 club.

Dansby also finished with his first sack of the year, seven tackles and two total pass deflections. He put together his biggest game of the year after sitting out practice Wednesday and Thursday due to finger and hamstring injuries.

“It’s a blessing,” he said of joining the shortlist of players to reach both the 40-sack and 20-interception marks. “That’s all I can say, man.”

Follow @kzimmermanaz