Troy Polamalu is one of the best safeties in NFL history, but it wouldn’t have happened without his level of work ethic. Polamalu explained on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast his level of film study and how much he would watch other defensive backs in football and then implement some of what they did into his game.
“Every year, I’d watch five safeties and I would literally watch every single one of their plays. And I would make a highlight tape and a lowlight tape of all of them. So that’s what I did throughout my whole career. Obviously, Ed [Reed] was somebody who I admired, but there’s a bunch of guys like Donovan Darius, Bob Sanders, guys who don’t get a lot of credit who were Hall of Fame-type players who didn’t have length. To be very frank man, I was in the most beautiful situation in Pittsburgh, I had a Hall of Fame defensive coordinator, Hall of Fame head coach, you could put any of those players in my position and they would be as successful as I am,” Polamalu said.
Polamalu claimed he’s not just being humble with his praise, and he truly believes any of those players would be just as successful in Pittsburgh.
“I studied, I was obsessed with the game, I broke down safeties in this way and even cornerbacks in this way, so I don’t say these things humbly,” he said. “I studied these guys, I studied everything about them.”
Polamalu said he would watch tape and see things he wanted to add to his game from these other safeties and then would go practice on the scout team to try and implement them.
“There’s absolutely a lot of things, for Ed in particular, that he would do that I was like, ‘Oh man I need to incorporate that.’ And funny thing is, that’s what I would use scout team for, I’d be like ‘Oh, I wanna do scout team,’ because I’m like, ‘Oh well, I wanna try some of the things these other safeties do,'” Polamalu said.
Polamalu said that in the offseason, players are so focused on working out that he realized he needed to get in as many reps as possible to be able to take some things from other players and add to his game to make him a better player. In particular, he talked about Reed’s ability to disguise coverages.
“You gotta have a student mindset in this sport,” Polamalu said. “It’s no secret. It’s sacrifice, it’s grit, it’s hard work. It’s no special talent that anybody else has. So, that to me was my mindset, so that’s why I learned from guys like Ed, guys like Donovan Darius, a lot of safeties that I studied that aren’t very famous out there.”
At some level, every player watches tape and will try to take stuff from other guys they see. But Polamalu was already one of the best safeties in the world and he was still looking around the league, even at some less-heralded guys to see what he could add to his game. It’s one of the things that made him such a special player for so long and a reason why he has a bust in Canton, Ohio, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Reed was probably Polamalu’s biggest competition when it came to being the top safety in the league, and they foiled each other well as Reed was more adept when it came to getting interceptions, but Polamalu was better getting downhill and flying all over the field (and over the line of scrimmage) to make plays. He’s someone that Polamalu has talked a lot about his respect for, and someone Polamalu watched closely on tape to take things from and work on things that Reed did that he could incorporate as part of his game.
It wouldn’t have been possible for Polamalu to just add these facets to his game if he wasn’t smart enough or athletic enough to pull them off. And it’s a testament to Polamalu that he was such a smart player and someone who had the physical traits to add essentially whatever he wanted into the way he played. Not a lot of players would spend as much time watching film, and watching every single snap of safeties around the league when they were already a Defensive Player of the Year and regarded as one of the best defensive players in the league year in and year out, but that’s what helped set Polamalu apart from his peers.
He’s obviously incredibly humble, but I have a hard time believing that a lot of safeties could do what he did in Pittsburgh, even with a Hall of Fame defensive coordinator in Dick LeBeau and a Hall of Fame coach in Bill Cowher and another potential Hall of Fame coach in Mike Tomlin on the sidelines. Polamalu’s work ethic and ability to fly around the field and read plays was unmatched, and it set him apart from other players around the league. While he may have taken some aspects from other players, he was the one who was able to execute and set himself apart from other defensive players in football.
It’s fascinating to hear about his process of working out and going through tape and to see just how meticulous he was when it came to studying and preparing. It’s clear it was something that made him the special player and legend that he is today.
