MVN - Most Valuable Network

Troy Polamalu--photo courtesy of veronevaeh/flickr

Can Troy Polamalu return to All-Pro form?

There is nothing better than watching #43 accelerating across the field, hair flying, culminating in a bone-crunching hit that you can feel a thousand miles away. When Troy Polamalu is playing at 100%, there isn’t a better safety in football. Pound for pound, TroyP is unquestionably one of the most feared hitters, and best players in the game…

…when he’s healthy.

Polamalu is controlled fury on the field. So much so, that it’s easy to forget that he isn’t 6′4″ and 230 pounds. Polamalu checks in at 5′10″ and 207 lbs. It’s not incredibly small for a safety, but in the world of the NFL, he’s a borderline dwarf. Combine that with his wreckless abandon, and there is a real fear that his style of play may ultimately lead to an early decline in his play.

You could make a case for that having already happened.

Polamalu essentially stayed injury free during his first three seasons in the NFL, minus the normal dings, and a shoulder injury in 2004 that didn’t cause him to miss any games. That all changed in 2006, when he essentially played the entire season injured. In early September of that season, Troy injured his shoulder in practice, and it really was an issue all year. In the first month of the injury, Polamalu worked through the pain, but essentially played with one arm. By November, the shoulder was feeling better, when he injured his foot. Finally came the sprained knee in late November of 2006, that ultimately caused him to miss three games.

2007 reads a lot like 2006. In October, he had to leave the Cardinals game due to an abdominal strain that caused him to miss his first game of the season the following week. The major injury came in November, however, when Polamalu missed three more games due to another knee injury. He came back from that injury, but tweaked it, and was forced to miss the last game of the season against the Ravens, and played ineffectively, and sparingly against the Jaguars in the wildcard loss. The continued beating on his knee forced Polamalu to have surgery in the offseason to clean up the knee.

It’s easy to say that this is turning into a chronic problem for TP, since the knee has been a problem for two straight years, which begs the question: Are Troy Polamalu’s best days behind him?

The average NFL career lasts around three years. Polamalu will be starting his sixth year when the 2008 season starts. Many would say he’s playing on borrowed time anyways. You can also make a case that a knee injury, and in this case, multiple knee injuries do become chronic. If watching Tiger Woods recently will tell us, once you ‘break the seal’ on knee surgery, it’s generally something that keeps coming back to say hello.

Polamalu knows how to play one way, and that’s full-bore, in your face, knock your head off football. Combine that with a bum knee, it’s natural course of degradation, the general pounding football players put on their knees, and the extra pounding a player like Polamalu puts on that knee, and you have a mix that would lead many to believe that it’s only going to get worse for the superstar safety.

Of course, it’s never that easy, is it.

To start with, Troy just turned 27 years old, and is, or should be in the prime of his career. As he’s proven in the past, Polamalu not only can play injured, but play at a high level. The only major injury that he’s had is the sprained knees, so theoretically, if he can rehabilitate the knee, there shouldn’t really be a ‘chronic’ issue.

The irony of the injury issues are that they started right after Polamalu stopped working out with trainer Marv Marinovich. Marinovich was a former captain at USC, and won a national title there as a player. He later would play for the Raiders and become their conditioning coach. He now runs a conditioning center in Orange County, California. Marinovich may be best known as the father of the enigmatic Todd Marinovich, who Marv famously “programmed” to become an NFL quarterback.

This season, Polamalu returned to Marinovich for his offseason workouts. Marinovich preaches quick-fire repetition, light weights, and high range-of-motion drills. Not only does Marinovich believe that this increases strength and range of motion, but it also decreases injuries. On Marinovich’s website, Polamalu has been quoted as saying,

“Football just isn’t about strength… It’s about the fine line between being flexible and having strength. …Sports Lab and the methods Marv has developed over 40 years are simply better. No one can argue with the… success that he has had with… NFL, college and high school athletes.”

It does seem more than just coincidence that Polamalu’s injuries began after he stopped working out with Marinovich. Going back to those workouts may be just the answer that Polamalu needs to regain his former stature, and help keep the knee at close to 100%.

Steeler coach Mike Tomlin has allowed Polamalu to skip all spring workouts while he’s rehabbing and getting into shape with Marinovich (he attended minicamp, but didn’t participate), and Troy won’t report to Steelers camp until training camp starts in July.

So has Troy started a downward spiral that so many NFL players begin far to early? It’s hard to say, but anyone that’s watched Polamalu’s desire and tenacity on the field know that you shouldn’t count the pro bowler out. Still, you can’t help but worry and wonder. Knee injuries are finicky things for players that use their legs as much as Polamalu does. I don’t know that Polamalu will ever be 100% again, but 90% is still better than the rest of the safeties in the league.

My bet is that he’ll be bringing the fear to the Steelers defensive backfield at an NFL game near you.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 9:28 am and is filed under Marv Marinovich, Troy Marinovich, Steel Tradition, Troy Polamalu, James Pete, Pittsburgh Steelers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.