Is Troy P a liability?

Don't get me wrong I love Troy. He's an exciting player that makes more than his share of spectacular plays. However, I would wager that the vast majority of his splash plays are at or near the line of scrimmage(10yards or less). It seems to my untrained eye that he frequently loses the battles fought deeper in coverage. Take last year in the SB, he bit inside on a route that went outside for an easy score. Again last night he was deep and bit hard on that pass to the te. It might just be that his high lights are being overshadowed by a crappy loss last night. Thoughts?

I know what you're talking about but I think you've noticed more of his glitches because Ryan Clark wasn't back there with him. It was the same thing when Chris Hope left for the titans. There is chemistry there, and it makes a huge impact on the entire scheme of things.

1st post here, thanks for the invite SCMoM

My wife rips me a new one everytime I talk bad of TP. But some of his decisions are just plain dumb. Giving him full reign is not the best of ideas any more. The TD pass he gave up where he didnt even put his hands up?

He has lost a step or 2, obviously his hands were more like Taylors this year as he dropped 3-4 int's. Coverage has been average. Voted ALL pro due to history. Now I"m not sure who the better FS are out there, but this year was not the best year.

you got to wonder if he has been playing scared.........concussions are no joke

stlrtruck wrote:

I know what you're talking about but I think you've noticed more of his glitches because Ryan Clark wasn't back there with him. It was the same thing when Chris Hope left for the titans. There is chemistry there, and it makes a huge impact on the entire scheme of things.

I agree and to take it a little farther what's it like when Troy is out for Clark? Not Good!!! We forget how good Clark is because we're always looking at what Troy's doing. Isn't Clark our leading tackler. I'd be willing to bet if he were playing Thomas wouldn't have scored. They may have still kicked a field goal but we would have gotten our turn.

Then again I could be wrong!!!

This is a tricky subject. I feel that Troy's positives outweigh his negatives on the field. However, it does bring up the interesting question of what the Steelers intend to do when Polamalu is no longer on the roster. I contend that Troy "free lances" more than most people realize. It seems to me as if the defense draws up plays for ten players instead of eleven with the idea that Polamalu is a wild card. With that in mind, we can't simply draft a replacement at Strong Safety and throw him into the fire. Chances are, even a very good Strong Safety isn't going to have half of the football instincts that Troy possesses. Traditionally, teams want a thumper at Strong Safety for run support and a rangy athlete at Free Safety to ball-hawk. The Steelers have really done a great job of bucking that trend. Similar to the way running a 3-4 gives defenses superior 'disguiseability' over the 4-3, with the Outside Linebackers playing the role of Defensive Ends; having two safeties who are above average at playing both run and pass, as Troy and Ryan Clark are, creates a lot of doubt in the minds of offenses. When looking at a team like the Saints, who have two very solid safeties themselves, you can see why Clark & Polamalu pay dividends over a tandem like Roman Harper (SS) and Malcolm Jenkins (FS). Harper plays in the box for many of his snaps. In fact, he had 7.5 sacks this season. Whereas Jenkins plays more of a midfielders role. This is effective, but predictable. With the Steelers, you can't point one of the teams safeties and say "Yeah, this player will almost always be ten yards deep supporting the Corners." Either Clark or Polamalu could be playing in the box or in the open field. It really is a strong advantage. Losing Troy would mean this advantage largely goes away. Having a player like Will Allen for example take his place really limits the creativity currently available to the Steelers defense. Polamalu may be a liability at times, but in my opinion his splash plays are more valuable than his failings are detrimental.

I think that Troy is a rare type of instinctive player. Just like there will never be another Mean Joe Greene, there will not be another Troy. I don't think he is going to be playing as long as say, Farrior. He is too physical of a player and no athlete's body can take that type of pounding and play and hope to still be playing in their late 30's. I hope to hell I'm wrong, though.

ShutDown24 wrote:

This is a tricky subject. I feel that Troy's positives outweigh his negatives on the field. However, it does bring up the interesting question of what the Steelers intend to do when Polamalu is no longer on the roster. I contend that Troy "free lances" more than most people realize. It seems to me as if the defense draws up plays for ten players instead of eleven with the idea that Polamalu is a wild card. With that in mind, we can't simply draft a replacement at Strong Safety and throw him into the fire. Chances are, even a very good Strong Safety isn't going to have half of the football instincts that Troy possesses. Traditionally, teams want a thumper at Strong Safety for run support and a rangy athlete at Free Safety to ball-hawk. The Steelers have really done a great job of bucking that trend. Similar to the way running a 3-4 gives defenses superior 'disguiseability' over the 4-3, with the Outside Linebackers playing the role of Defensive Ends; having two safeties who are above average at playing both run and pass, as Troy and Ryan Clark are, creates a lot of doubt in the minds of offenses. When looking at a team like the Saints, who have two very solid safeties themselves, you can see why Clark & Polamalu pay dividends over a tandem like Roman Harper (SS) and Malcolm Jenkins (FS). Harper plays in the box for many of his snaps. In fact, he had 7.5 sacks this season. Whereas Jenkins plays more of a midfielders role. This is effective, but predictable. With the Steelers, you can't point one of the teams safeties and say "Yeah, this player will almost always be ten yards deep supporting the Corners." Either Clark or Polamalu could be playing in the box or in the open field. It really is a strong advantage. Losing Troy would mean this advantage largely goes away. Having a player like Will Allen for example take his place really limits the creativity currently available to the Steelers defense. Polamalu may be a liability at times, but in my opinion his splash plays are more valuable than his failings are detrimental.

That's a nice analysis. And you're right, it's a tricky subject. It's hard to imagine our defense without Troy in it. Actually, no it's not. The past few seasons, we've seen what it looks like without Troy in it. But they really do need to start thinking about life after Troy.