Guessing game? Not for instinctive Polamalu
On Polamalu and his unparalleled instincts
over 2 years ago
barnerburner
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Well...
I think Troy was actually playing the role that defensive scheme called for. That wasn’t “cheating the play”. (Maybe he should have.) He was in position according to the playbook. It was Ike who boffed on that one.
I think Troy is just really good at reading body language. The article mentions “The Scoop”, but the other deflection, fumble, and recovery for a non-TD was a more telling play. He saw the guy with the ball get stuck without a place to run. He knew there was going to be another lateral. He guessed where it was going and he started moving toward the intended target before the guy began to make a throwing motion. That’s how he got 15 yards down field to tip the ball away.
I thought that it was Harrison that had that zone on the play.
Offense may sell tickets, but defense wins championships
by canadianblackandgold on Aug 11, 2009 8:51 PM EDT up reply actions
I love Troy as much as the next guy but
There were three huge mistakes on that play. The whole point of playing a conservative 2-deep defense (specifically the 2-deep man defense on that play) is to prevent big plays by having redundancy. If Ike screws up, it’s a 20 yard gain, not a 70 yard TD. If Ike screws up AND both safeties bite on short “out” routes, which is what happened, then you get a 70 yard TD. Troy (and Clark as it happened) was guessing that they’d throw a pass to the outside. He was wrong.
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I think canadian is right, someone else was supposed to have the short middle zone on that play. If either of the corners got beaten they were the only ones in the vicinity to clean up, so naturally their attention was primarily on them. I guess you can say that they trusted the play of their teammates too much in leaving Fitz to Ike and Harrison or whoever was supposed to have the short middle zone on lockdown.
by barnerburner on Aug 12, 2009 6:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Tracking down a guy running up the sideline is easier than getting a guy running up the middle of the field. The reason they call them “safeties” is so that they can limit the damage when someone gets beat, a phenomenon that happens on most plays. They should stay in position to tackle anyone who might break free. Harrison either had a short zone or man coverage on someone else. Ike was responsible to cover Fitz, got beat, and couldn’t make the tackle.
Clark and Troy both cheated on outside routes and lost. If they were supposed to do that, then Dick LeBeau should be blamed for a terrible scheme; you’re up by 4 late in the game and you single cover their best player – the guy who has completely dominated every defense he’s faced in the playoffs – with no help over top? Or the “help” is a 250 lb pass rusher lined up on the LOS? Come on. Troy screwed up. He’s human. It’s okay.
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A real example
Around the 1:09 mark when Troy gets Flacco. I remember reading after the game that even though the whole defense was together in film study watching the Ravens-Titans game from a week earlier, Troy was the only one who remembered them using that same formation from no-huddle to roll Flacco to the left for a shot downfield. Harrison bit on the handoff and was caught with his pants down, but Troy sensed the bootleg as soon as he saw the formation and immediately ditched his assignment to chase down Flacco for the sack and 8-yard loss on 1st down.
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