Filed under: Packers, Steelers, AFC North, NFC North, NFL Injuries, Super Bowl, NFL Analysis
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Troy Polamalu sat at the podium to answer questions following the Pittsburgh Steelers loss in Super Bowl XLV, and twice the NFL representative standing next to him asked if he wanted to go."I'm fine," Polamalu said, and looked back to answer more.
Polamalu did not look fine on the field, though. In fact, the way he played made it seem as if he was anything but fine.
On some plays he was a step slow, on others he guessed wrong. And at some of the most important times of the game, Polamalu was playing deep center field and not rushing the passer with fierce abandon like he often does. Not having Polamalu in position to rush the passer seems to indicate one thing: He was not his usual explosive self, and he was not able to accelerate like he needed to.
Polamalu played like a man injured, and for a good part of the season he struggled with a strained right Achilles' tendon. Polamalu initially hurt the Achilles in a loss to New England on Nov. 14 but kept playing. He reinjured and aggravated it in a win over Cincinnati on Dec. 12 and missed the next two games. He returned for the season finale against Cleveland and played in the playoffs, but did not seem like his usual self.
In the Super Bowl, he candidly admitted that the defensive failures were "especially me in particular," and that "I was a step off here and there."
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