MIAMI -- Troy Polamalu was a trendsetter in the NFL. And not just because of his flowing locks.
Polamalu was the first in what has become the norm for safeties across the NFL, a hybrid capable of covering tight ends and receivers, blitzing, and stopping the run.
He was so good, the Steelers' defenses for three Super Bowl runs were built around his unique talents.
Saturday, those talents earned Polamalu election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a first-time player on the ballot. Polamalu was the only first-year player selected among this year's Modern Era class.
Former teammate Alan Faneca, however, was not as fortunate. The six-time first-team All-Pro guard once again made the cut from 15 finalists down to 10, but just missed the cut for the fifth year in a row.
Polamalu was joined in this year's class of Modern Era candidates by guard Steve Hutchinson, safety Steve Atwater, wide receiver Isaac Bruce and running back Edgerrin James. The class was announced on the NFL Honors Show taping Saturday afternoon after the 48-person Hall of Fame Election Committee met for over five hours.
Polamalu's election comes as no surprise. A six-time All-Pro, including earning first-team status four times, Polamalu helped redefine the safety position. He also was named to the Pro Bowl eight times and was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame 2000s All-Decade Team. He finished his career with 32 career interceptions, 14 forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries and 12 sacks. He also won the 2010 NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, making him one of just five safeties in league history to do so.
Interestingly enough, Polamalu will go in as part of the same Hall of Fame Class as his former head coach, Bill Cowher, the man who helped orchestrate the Steelers' trade up from 27 to 16 in 2003 to acquire the former star Southern California safety.
"We were talking about how he drafted me and I got the call from the 412 area code and I was mad because it wasn't a California area code," Polamalu joked. "Obviously, it's a huge blessing for me to play for a Hall of Fame coach and the time we had together."
Cowher has coached other players who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, such as Demonttti Dawson, Rod Woodson, Kevin Greene and Jerome Bettis. But Polamalu is the first one he drafted and groomed.
That made it a special night for the two to share the dais at the NFL Honors show where the newest members of the class were announced. Cowher had previously been announced as part of the hall's Centennial Class to celebrate the league's 100th season.
"This is special with Troy because of all the things we went through, watching his career," Cowher told me. "He’s a special young man with (wife) Theodora and the kids. Seeing the kind of father he is and husband he is, he’s such a good guy. Having him as a player was just a real joy."
That growth was somewhat slow in coming -- at least right away.
The Steelers played Polamalu in several different spots as a rookie, as he served essentially as a linebacker in the nickel and dime defenses while also learning both safety spots.
But that learning process helped him in his second year become the player teams feared the most in the Steelers defense.
"They threw a lot at me my rookie year," Polamalu told me. "What I realized my rookie year is that I’m a very instinctual player. It became more natural for me and I didn’t have to cognitively think of things. As I was going through all these different positions, nickel and dime, which are really SAM linebacker and WILL linebacker, both safety positions and corner, there was only one strong safety and one free safety and that was it. They weren’t interchangeable.
"I remember during my second year, I started sprinting around, doing some things to disguise. James Farrior and Joey (Porter) were like, ‘Wow, I like that.’ Then, Hines (Ward) was like, ‘Do that, but do it like this.’ We had Jerome (Bettis) and he said, ‘That was really tough, but it would be tougher if you did it in this gap.' They just kind of shaped that whole disguise thing."
What they shaped was a player who looked like he was simply making things up on the fly. But Cowher said nothing was further from the case.
"The thing about Troy is that he did things based on his preparation, based on his instincts, his anticipation," Cowher said. "He had an understanding conceptually of what you were doing. He could describe everything you were trying to do. There would be times where I’d be like, ‘Man, you’re waiting awfully late to get to where you need to.’ But he got there. It was just fun to have him on your side. On game day, you watched him play and you knew it was going to be the result of a week of preparation because he was the first one in and the last one to leave. That was special. You take a guy who approaches things that way with his skill set, you get a special player."
It came from that trust that Cowher, defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau and his teammates placed in Polamalu to make plays.
And that trust was born out of everyone else's recognition of Polamalu's greatness.
"As Coach LeBeau got more confident with me being able to play more positions, I was able to put people in position to where I could say, ‘Oh man, I know I can’t cover that receiver, but I know I can do this. You go there. I’ll go here and this goes there,'" Polamalu told me. "What was really nice about that was that we would have one defensive call, but to an offense, it would look like we had three different calls. One game I’d be running over here. The next game, I’d be over there. It showed more dynamic matchups based on what we were able to do because of everybody’s understanding of the defense.
"Funny enough, because I’m done now, what became really difficult was when we started getting younger players who didn’t know all of the positions. It was nice to be able to play with the Desheas (Townsend) and be like, ‘Oh, he knows what to do.’ We could all switch different positions. Then, when we get somebody young in there, even if it was a d-lineman, I could go up to them and say, ‘I know you have this gap. If I take this gap and you take that gap, I know you will get the running back. I know you against a running back will win, but not maybe me.’ I was able to do some of those things with defensive linemen. That’s what was really cool, to be able to understand the whole scheme of the defense. I definitely had the liberty to play all of the positions, to mix around and do those sort of things. But I had a responsibility, like everybody around me.
"Where you would see me really running around like I didn’t have a position, I would choose a route that had no role at all. If it was a tight end to the opposite flat, that person isn’t in the play. I would say, ‘OK, they’re going to run this play, so I’m going to take this position over here. It was just being able to cheat based on formations, things like that."
Some call it freelancing. Cowher does not.
He said it was more about Polamalu's now Hall-of-Fame instincts.
"I call it anticipation," Cowher told me. "He would have a good idea of what was going to happen. And sometimes you’ve got to take chances and not be so scripted on what to do. But they had an understanding of the situation of the game, what to do and when to do it. You trust guys like that. The more you’re around him, the more you realized this guy has a feel for the game. He can anticipate things. He’s got a unique skill set and a unique ability to be in the right place at the right time. And then you’re not afraid to take chances."
Much like the Steelers taking that chance on Polamalu in 2003.
Former Super Bowl MVP Dexter Jackson had an agreement in principal on a free agent deal with the Steelers, but backed out at the last minute to sign with the Cardinals.
That left the Steelers still in need of a safety, but knew that they would not be able to wait around until pick No. 27 that season to get the one they coveted, Polamalu. So Cowher called his former boss in Kansas City, Carl Peterson, and convinced him the Steelers would not take running back Larry Johnson at 16 if they moved up.
Three AFC Championship and two Super Bowl wins later, it seems the fates shined on the Steelers that day.
Polamalu is joined in this year's class not just by Cowher but former Steelers safety Donnie Shell, another member of the Centennial Class. Their additions bring the number of Steelers players, coaches and owners in the Pro Football Hall of Fame to 27.
"When he came, it was like 'Wow. His skillset is more than just a safety who can cover,'" Cowher said. "We threw a lot at him that first year. I always felt like if I threw a lot of stuff on the board, at some point it will resonate. It probably didn't resonate that first year. But in the long run, he was able to understand conceptually what we were trying to do. Consequently, he took those concepts to another level. His skill set, his instincts, his playmaking ability superseded anyone I've ever been around."
