LLT
09-02-2012, 03:39 AM
By Alan Robinson
Tribune-Review Sports
Published: Sunday, September 2, 2012,
Troy Polamalu remembers when he could rely upon his exquisite timing to vault the offensive line and propel himself into the backfield, disrupting a play even before it started. Nobody else in the NFL could do it.
Or when he made plays so instinctively and athletic — such as his improbable, one-handed interception on a snowy field against Philip Rivers of the Chargers — that it required multiple replay reviews to determine how he possibly made them.
Those were the days for the player of a generation. These days, Polamalu is out to prove it’s not a generation that’s passed.
“I’ve been hiding a lot of my faults,” he says, laughing.
Once a super athlete whose ability to play half the positions on defense made him a game plan nightmare for offensive coordinators, Polamalu — at age 31 — is as apt to rely on his nine-plus seasons of experience as he is his unnatural instincts. He’s also become more of a true safety than a defender who regularly makes can-you-believe-it’s-true plays.
And when he films those Head & Shoulders ads that, according to Procter & Gamble, boosted sales 10 percent among the young adult target group, he must tint some of his gray hair. He’s also more fastidious about his offseason eating, dieting earlier in advance of training camp this year than before.
It’s not as if Polamalu is being ravaged by time; it’s just that a player for the ages has to be conscious of his age. He also appears intent on improving upon a 2011 season in which the Steelers were No. 1 defensively and he made the All-Pro team, but his interceptions dropped to two from seven the season before.
Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/2514407-85/polamalu-playing-troy-safety-game-position-experience-player-season-bit#ixzz25IeKnZbM
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook
Tribune-Review Sports
Published: Sunday, September 2, 2012,
Troy Polamalu remembers when he could rely upon his exquisite timing to vault the offensive line and propel himself into the backfield, disrupting a play even before it started. Nobody else in the NFL could do it.
Or when he made plays so instinctively and athletic — such as his improbable, one-handed interception on a snowy field against Philip Rivers of the Chargers — that it required multiple replay reviews to determine how he possibly made them.
Those were the days for the player of a generation. These days, Polamalu is out to prove it’s not a generation that’s passed.
“I’ve been hiding a lot of my faults,” he says, laughing.
Once a super athlete whose ability to play half the positions on defense made him a game plan nightmare for offensive coordinators, Polamalu — at age 31 — is as apt to rely on his nine-plus seasons of experience as he is his unnatural instincts. He’s also become more of a true safety than a defender who regularly makes can-you-believe-it’s-true plays.
And when he films those Head & Shoulders ads that, according to Procter & Gamble, boosted sales 10 percent among the young adult target group, he must tint some of his gray hair. He’s also more fastidious about his offseason eating, dieting earlier in advance of training camp this year than before.
It’s not as if Polamalu is being ravaged by time; it’s just that a player for the ages has to be conscious of his age. He also appears intent on improving upon a 2011 season in which the Steelers were No. 1 defensively and he made the All-Pro team, but his interceptions dropped to two from seven the season before.
Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/2514407-85/polamalu-playing-troy-safety-game-position-experience-player-season-bit#ixzz25IeKnZbM
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook