By CK Stiller
For the third straight day, three Steelers starters missed most of practice. Holmes will officially miss the game this Sunday. Marvel Smith did not practice at all this week. Polamalu has only had two light practices, and he did not run with the first team defense this Friday. He is listed as 'questionable.' I had figured two of these players would miss this week. The exception was Troy Polamalu. That alone is enough for me to feel the need to revise my prediction against the Bengals this week.
Troy Polamalu has received a good deal of criticism over the last two years. Fans complain about his poor tackling, and his lack of playmaking. This year, especially, the cries have grown louder in the wake of his new contract. He has no INT's or sacks. There has even been some criticism of him here on this front page. I feel like the lone voice defending him at this point. People do not appreciate what this man has been doing these past two seasons. I would go out on a limb and actually call this the best season of his career, and say that it isn't even close. Let me start explaining this view by first going back to the start of his career.
Polamalu received a good deal of praise in 2004 and 2005. At the time, I found myself as one of the few Steelers fans who had any criticism of this man. Pundits and homer alike had nothing but praise for the young safety. He produced a number of highlight plays, culminating with the '05 playoff run. However, there was a clear gap in Polamalu's game. He was somewhat reckless, and frequently found himself biting on fakes or out of position. These usually resulted in big plays for the other team. Look back to Brady's bomb to Branch in the 04 AFCC game. This would continue in the next round of the playoffs. While Polamalu played brilliantly against both Denver and Indianapolis, he gave up long passes in each of those games. And these problems occured throughout the regular season.
For me, it's hard to even pinpoint what plays are missing from Troy's game. People point to the lack of sacks, INT's, and missed tackles above all else. Yet tackling has always been somewhat of an issue with Polamalu. He missed a tackle in the Indy playoff game on Clark, and it resulted in a long pass becoming a TD. Polamalu has never wracked up a lot of sacks. The most he had in any season was 3 (05). Outside of his first year as a starter, he's never had a lot of INT's. He collected just 3 and 2 in the last two seasons. So, what is it that people think is missing from his game now?
For all the supposed lack of production, what I like most about Polamalu's game now is that he's a far more consistent player. He's still making a large number of big plays, they just aren't as noticable. What sets him apart is his fantastic range. And what he has done the past two seasons is use this to prevent big plays for the offense. I saw no one praise Polamalu when he came from the hash marks to the sidelines to break up a flea flicker against the Bengals. There was little talk of Polamalu's hit on Davis to spring the ball loose. If Polamalu doesn't make this play, the 49ers are at the 10 with a chance to make it a one score game late in the third. Causing a fumble against the Ravens was ovelrooked because of Harrison's performance. The fact that he occupied a tackle while Harrison came in untouched on another of those fumbles was also largely ignored. The deep pass plays he broke up against Cinci, Denver, and Arizona went unnoticed. The tackles he made to keep the Browns out of FG on their final few offensive plays were ignored by the "Troy can't tackle!" crowd. When Polamalu comes from 10 yards down the field to stop a ball carrier at the line, no one cares. When he whiffs on an open field tackle which may or may not even be his actual lane, he's an overrated bum.
What teams have been doing the past two seasons is showing Polamalu ultimate respect. In coverage, he has given up just two TD's over the past two seasons - both against the Ravens when he had a bum knee. Besides that game, teams haven't even tried to throw on him. When Troy blitzes, he doesn't get a free shot at the QB. What he does is force the other team to account for him, like when he freed up Harrison to strip McNair. If teams throw deep on the Steelers, Polamalu is there to break the play up - either by knocking it loose with a hit (like he did to Bryant Johnson in Arizona) or break the play up. Teams fear him for a reason. When LeBeau says that he values the big plays he prevents more than any big plays he may create, I tend to believe him.
No safety in the league is given the task Polamalu is. No one else is asked to blitz like a LB, cover like a corner man to man, and play the deep zone with the same regularity as Troy. With a healthy #43, the Steelers don't need to come out of their base 3-4 to play three wides. The reason is that they feel comfortable putting Troy on a receiver man to man. When the team sticks Polamalu on a star TE, he's the only one on the defense who has shown that he can and will shut them down.
Bob Sanders sits in a zone and reacts to a play. He can hit harder than Polamalu, but he can not move like Polamalu. He isn't given the coverage responsibilites of Polamalu. And that sums up most of the safeties in the league. Reed sits back in the deep middle 90% of the game.
I fear that people may learn the significance of Troy the hard way this week against Cinci. They may need to see this defense get burned for some 40 yard completions before they learn just how much this man brings to the table.