While veteran Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor managed to finally arrive for OTA practices on Tuesday, safety Troy Polamalu remains absent as he’s continuing to train back home in California. Taylor was asked about his longtime teammates absence on Tuesday and he predictably said he’s not worried one bit about Polamalu being away.
“He’s probably somewhere up in the mountains with the monks praying,” Taylor said of Polamalu’s absence. “So, you’ve got to let Troy be Troy, but when he comes back he’ll be Jesus on the field.”
Polamalu, of course, is not in the mountains praying with the monks as he instead is likely training with Marv Marinovich, his longtime trainer. Last offseason, Polamalu also reportedly worked with a physical therapist in order to help him finally put behind a calf injury that had hampered him for several seasons.
Whatever Polamalu did do last offseason, it worked, and it resulted in the safety playing in all 16 games for just the sixth time in his 11-year career. In fact, Polamalu didn’t even miss a defensive snap last season on his way to recording 69 tackles and five forced fumbles.
Hopefully, Polamalu can pull off that feat once again in 2014. That will make the monks that are Steelers fans, along with everyone else that cheers for the team, very happy.
That Ike Taylor sure does have a way with words.
