Troy Polamalu’s High Honor Caps Another Highlight-Reel Season
Filed under: Steelers, AFC North
Steelers Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu is the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and no one can disagree.
When quarterback Ben Roethlisberger missed the first four regular season games after violating the league’s personal conduct policy, the question was who will be the team’s field general. Polamalu was not the quarterback in the sense of throwing the ball, but in being the ball hawk. He finished second in the league in interceptions with seven and led the Steelers defense to control each game.
This is the first time, surprisingly, Polamalu has won the Defensive Player of the Year Award and as he prepares for his third Super Bowl contest, in which the Steelers will play the Packers on Feb. 6 in Dallas, Tex., he will rightfully garner the award and help strengthen his future trip to Canton, Ohio.
Polamalu is the type of player that changes the game by making quarterbacks second-guess where to attack and while doing so, the pressure from the Steelers’ front four and blitz packages get the time they need to stop any signal caller. He’s responsible for winning at least three games this season alone with his heroics.
“Troy brings this defense from a ‘C’ defense to an ‘A’ defense. He’s someone that you have to account for in the secondary,” said former Defensive Player of the Year and teammate James Harrison, according the NFL.com. Harrison finished third in the ballot with eight votes.
Against the Falcons on the NFL ’s opening weekend, Polamalu confused young quarterback Matt Ryan enough to stop their passing attack and had a critical interception. In the following week at Tennessee, he again had a huge interception in the end zone and his great leap over the offensive line on a goal-line stand ended any comeback the Titans had planned.
In Week 12, Polamalu’s big hit on a Bills receiver to stop Buffalo from scoring was key and against the Ravens in Baltimore, his sack-fumble on quarterback Joe Flacco late in the fourth quarter helped set up the Steelers’ go-ahead touchdown score, which ultimately crowned Pittsburgh as the AFC North champion. And in Week 14, the safety out of USC haunted his old college teammate, Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer, by picking off two of his passes and taking one to the house.
Polamalu was hands down the best defender in the NFL and not too many can affect the opposition so much just by myself, not that he’ll admit it.
“I don’t imagine their game plan changing over one player,” said Polamalu. “We don’t single out anybody. Anything we achieve here is done as a team, as a whole.”
Former teammate and Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes summed the performance of Mr. Head and Shoulder as well.
“With all due respect, I honestly think Troy Polamalu is probably the greatest player I’ve ever played with or even seen play in person,” said Holmes, who was the MVP for the Steelers 2009 Super Bowl win over Arizona. “Everybody has their one person they think is the greatest player. In my eyes, I think he’s the greatest player I’ve ever played with.”
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Source: http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2011/02/01/troy-polamalu-adds-much-deserved-trophy-to-his-case-with-new-hon/