Steelers safety Troy Polamalu was the NFL’s defensive player of the year, but the NFL year ended with a bad game from Polamalu.
That was one of the things the people sitting around me on press row kept talking about during the game, and it’s one of the things members of the media are talking about today.
Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News writes of Polamalu, “his NFL Defensive Player of the Year award is tarnished today.”
Says Peter King in his Monday Morning Quarterback column, “For a defensive player of the year, Troy Polamalu had a miniscule impact on the 2010 playoffs for Pittsburgh.”
For his part, Polamalu seems to accept the criticism coming his way.
“When we give up this many points, and with the way we gave them up, fingers are going to be pointed at the secondary,” Polamalu said. “You can point them at me with the way I played.”
Although Polamalu said his Achilles’ tendon injury wasn’t bothering him, he acknowledged that he was a step slow.
“I had some opportunities to make plays,” he said. “But I was just a step off here or there.”