Brewster10
Registered
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2006
- Posts
- 852
- Reaction score
- 0
Troy tried to do one of his Superman leaps, and Hightower just nailed him right on the chin..
Poolamoola looked very average in this game.
Poolamoola looked very average in this game.
Polomalu looked average because he was deployed differently than usual. He was a big part of the reason Fitz was shut down for 3.5 quarters. Sometimes he was just deeper and had to use speed to cover more ground, and other times he was one half of the jam and cover with Ike Taylor. On some plays he actually lined up as a corner and jammed Fitz at the line.
Edge juked him out twice, Hightower knocked him senseless, he bit on the flats on the Fitz TD.. this wasn't his day.
If that was his assignment, then I agree with you that it was a questionable coaching decision. It looked to me like he had to decide on which receiver to cover - and made the wrong choice. As a safety, it seems like covering the guy in the slot headed downfield would have made more sense than doubling on the receiver squaring out to the sideline on a shorter route.You're missing the point. It had been stated that Troy Polamalu looked very average, but he actually played very well because he did exactly what Lebeau wanted him to do.
Polamalu often will close on a RB at full speed (4.3) when he has to play a little deeper (part of the stop-Fitz scheme by Lebeau). Usually he'll make a good tackle by torpedoing the RB's legs instead of wrapping up. He's missed a few times doing that. I give Edge credit.
Polamalu is probably under 200 lbs at this time of year. He's a small defensive back who gets knocked by a bigger RB when rushing full speed. That happens all the time.
As I stated earlier, for 3.5 quarters he and Ike shut Fitz down. The Fitz slant wasn't Troy's coverage. The Steelers had switched to a deep cover-2 and the two safeties covered the outside (which they hadn't done all game). I have a theory why the Steelers did this, but I don't like the coverage in that situarion.
If that was his assignment, then I agree with you that it was a questionable coaching decision. It looked to me like he had to decide on which receiver to cover - and made the wrong choice. As a safety, it seems like covering the guy in the slot headed downfield would have made more sense than doubling on the receiver squaring out to the sideline on a shorter route.