We may not be able to enjoy watching Troy Polamalu for much longer, so it’s important to not take him for granted. I believe there has never been anyone quite like him and probably never will be again.
This play from the Cleveland game is a case in point. Most guys act in one role per play. Once that role becomes irrelevant to the play, they stop and just let the play unfold. The better players make a mid-play adjustment based on the action, and those adjustments are often the source of notable plays. A playmaker is a guy who can make an adjustment in the middle of game action to take advantage of the prevailing situation in real time. But here, we see Troy play five different roles in one play. That means he makes four adjustments in a matter of seconds, turning a busted defensive play into something special.
As the play initiates, he is anticipating a run and tries to blitz a gap on the Browns right side. His guess is wrong, as the run is to the left side and the right side gap closes immediately. An ordinary player in this position would continue to push in vain at the offensive line and end up hopelessly irrelevant to the game action. Not so with Polamalu. Almost before your eyes can figure out what is going on, suddenly Troy magically appears three yards back on the left side where he actually has to wait for the runner to smack into him. Troy makes the tackle which is already a great play, but that’s not enough. He then adjusts again and goes for the strip, successfully forcing a fumble. And again, before the brain of a normal human can even tell what’s happening, Troy adjusts one more time, now scooping up the ball at the instant that it is floating free on the other side of the runner. This is just an astonishing display of a combination of crazy athletic ability with an incredible football sixth sense.
Seriously, often he makes his teammates and opponents look like amateurs playing a different sport.
(Thanks to SteelersDepot for the animated GIF).
