Troy Polamalu is viewed by many as an elite safety in the NFL and in some ways he is an extremely good play maker but the same instinct that makes him a great play maker also makes him susceptible to fakes, misdirections, and locking on to the quarterback. This was extremely apparent to me one 3 huge plays in the game against the Patriots
Brady to Amendola part one --- on this play Amendola runs a seam route right up the right hash mark slowly fading to his left. The Steelers are back in what looks like a cover three with Polamalu covering the middle third of the field deep between the hash marks and two other DB's covering from the right hash mark to the sideline and the other covering from the left hash mark to the sideline effectively splitting the deep part of the field into thirds. Amendola gets a clean release and sprints straight up the field. Once he passes the linebackers (who are in short zones) he is still in the middle of the field therefore it is polomalu's job to pick him up, however Tom Brady starts the play looking deep down the right side, hee looks their for about 2-3 seconds and Polamalu overzealous to a play drifts ten yards to his right. This lack of discipline sees Amendola wide open for a catch and run into the endzone.
Brady to Amendola part 2--- on Amendola's second big play of the day the Steeler's play call on defense is hard to distinguish because of Polamalu's blown assignment. Prior to the snap The patriots have two wide outs on the right side close to the o-linemen,Polamalu is deep over the middle but faded a little to the right so he is lined up with Amendola. After the snap both Patriots receivers run vertically up the field and about 10-12 yards up the field Amendola breaks diagonally in towards the middle of the field while the other reciever darts out diagonally on a post towards the sideline. Polamalu who lined up over the middle of the field decides to go with the receiver who broke towards the sideline rather then stay inside which would make no sense in any coverage. nonetheless Amendola is wide open for a 30 plus yard gain.
Lastly --- In a rather key scenario of the game after the Steelers caught up and had seemingly all the momentum the Patriots attempt to drive down the field and regain momentum. the Steeler defense looked very tough and the patriots faced a key third and long. Dobson starting on the left side runs a 7 yard in route and is marginally well covered but brady decides he is going to throw anyway. Polamalu jumps the route actually reacting very quickly and getting up the field from behind dobson. the only problem is Polamalu gets there a second early and tackles dobson before the ball gets there. A costly pass interference that led to a Patriots score.
Troy Polamalu may be a very good playmaker in this league and he usually plays better then he did vs the patriots, but this week he was putrid in coverage and led to the early deficit for the steelers.
