PITTSBURGH (AP) -Troy Polamalu and the long black hair that cascades out of his helmet and falls below his shoulders are difficult to disguise, yet the Pittsburgh Steelers safety has managed to stay hidden for months.
A myriad of injuries kept him out of five games last season, a major setback even though the Steelers had the NFL’s top-ranked defense. After having surgery to repair a torn posterior cruciate ligament, Polamalu skipped most of the team’s offseason workouts to train in California.
Once training camp started, a hamstring injury that occurred during those away-from-Pittsburgh workouts kept him sidelined for three weeks and limited him to two series in the preseason.
“But I don’t think I’m too far behind everyone else,” he said.
He rarely is, one reason why the Steelers badly need Polamalu to get back to being Polamalu as they begin a season in which one of the NFL’s most talented teams will be challenged by one of the toughest schedules.
Polamalu is the player who singularly makes the Steelers’ defense different. He can line up at nearly every position except nose tackle, a pass rusher and playmaker who gives offensive coordinators fits when designing their blocking schemes.
Those injuries (ribs, knee, abdomen) clearly affected a player who didn’t have a single sack or interception in 2007 after having 10 interceptions and five sacks from 2004-06.
“The reason we can do so many things well is his ability to disguise and be athletic enough to get to where he needs to be,” safety Ryan Clark said. “From a preparation standpoint for offenses, he’s a guy you’ve got to prepare for. There’s only a few guys in the league you have to scheme for, and he’s one of them.”
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin supported Polamalu’s decision to return to training the way he did when he played at Southern Cal; Polamalu felt the weight lifting he was doing in Pittsburgh may have contributed to his knee injury.
Tomlin knows what kind of player he has in Polamalu, even if he didn’t see much of that player in his first season as coach last year.
“We are just going to toss him in,” Tomlin said. “He missed a bunch of (training camp) due to injury. We play on Sunday and he is going to be a part of it. Hopefully, he gets his legs under him pretty quickly.”
Two healthy legs would be a help, especially to a defense that faded down the stretch as the Steelers lost four of their final five.
“I felt pretty good (in the preseason), so I know what to expect out there,” Polamalu said. “We’ll find out on Sunday.”
Polamalu’s presence makes a difference because he is exceptional defending against the run yet is one of the best pass rushers among NFL defensive backs. The four-time Pro Bowl safety may be matched regularly against Houston tight end Owen Daniels in the season opener.
Daniels is one of the league’s most proficient receivers at tight end, making 63 catches for a 12.2 yards per catch average and three touchdowns last season. He has eight touchdowns in 30 career games.
“Obviously, the one guy that has been there for years and has been flying around the field and makes a ton of plays is Troy Polamalu,” Houston quarterback Matt Schaub said. “He’s all over the field. You really have to identify where he is and where he is going to be coming from.”
Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau often finds new ways for Polamalu to create pressure, and Polamalu himself looks forward to seeing what he’ll be doing differently each season.
“We have a lot of playmakers on our defense,” he said. “But things change from year to year. Even though we have a lot of the same players, things change every year.”
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