DALLAS — Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu and Green Bay’s Charles Woodson see a different game and have the nerve to act on what they see.
Not only do their brains and their boldness stamp them as unique players, the combination also won the Associated Press Defensive Player of th
e Year award for Woodson in 2009 and for Polamalu in 2010.
Each has the cunning, the vast experience and the athletic gifts to emerge as the most valuable player in the 45th Super Bowl on Sunday. By the same token, each could be the goat.
“They take educated guesses, and they’re usually right,” Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said. “(Woodson) is like Troy. You’ve got to find him before the ball’s snapped. You’ve got to account for them.”
Two years ago, when Todd Haley was the Arizona Cardinals’ offensive coordinator, he and quarterback Kurt Warner watched film together before the 43rd Super Bowl and found themselves fixated on the man with the No. 43 jersey and the hair flowing from beneath his helmet.
“For two weeks we called Polamalu the wild card because he’s a very unpredictable player,” Haley said in 2009. “You just don’t know what he’s going to do. That’s what scared Kurt and me. There are times he comes out of the scheme and just uses his ability or instincts to make plays.”
Late in the game, the Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald beat Ike Taylor badly at the line and then found the middle of the field wide open partly because Polamalu chased Anquan Boldin too far toward the sideline.
The result was Fitzgerald’s majestic 64-yard touchdown that gave Arizona the short-lived lead in its 27-23 loss to Pittsburgh.
“He probably thought he saw something,” Steelers linebacker James Farrior said in 2009. “He does a lot of things we don’t understand. He’s got an extra vision that we don’t have. He sees a different game.”
How often is Polamalu right?
“Probably about 85 percent of the time,” replied Farrior. “You take all of the good with a few bad. You should know where he is at all times, but I don’t even know if he knows where he’s going to be.”
Joe Whitt, the Packers’ second-year cornerbacks coach, was unable to fathom Woodson’s wavelength until they had several deep conversations.
“He taught me this. He said, ‘Joe, a lot of guys see it but they don’t believe it on game day,’” Whitt said. “It’s the same with Troy.
“When Troy sees something, when he sees a formation and a motion, he believes it and goes and gets it. A lot of guys won’t pull the trigger. That’s the difference.”
The tape-watching habits of Woodson and Polamalu are the stuff of legend in their respective camps. By kickoff, they are as prepared as a player could be.
Last year, Woodson intercepted nine passes, at least half by showing up in places or breaking on passes that left observers wondering what just happened.
Woodson often chalked it up to “instincts.”
As amorphous as that word might be, the dozen or so coaches and players interviewed for this story pointed to that very element almost to a man.
“The game is real slow for them,” said Ben McAdoo, who coaches the Packers’ tight ends. “I don’t think the quarterback can be surprised by any atypical reaction that he gets. Expect the unexpected.”
Even after a season in which Woodson made countless game-changing plays, he was crestfallen when the Packers blew a wild-card game in Arizona and failed yet again in his quest for the Super Bowl.
In the off-season, Woodson and his coach had another heart-to-heart in which Whitt asked him to trust what he had to say.
Green Bay had allowed a whopping 34 touchdown passes in 17 games, and the red-zone defense was terrible. Whitt asked Woodson to freelance less often than he had.
Woodson preferred being backed off 4 or 5 yards from the slot receiver so he had more space to read and react to the ball. But, by doing so, the coaches determined that it created too many gray areas for the safeties.
They asked Woodson to play closer to the line, which in turn enabled him to re-route his man and permit more definite reads behind him. Woodson’s interception total slipped to two, but Whitt says his unselfishness played a pivotal role why the Packers trimmed their yield of touchdown passes to 18 in 19 games.
“That wasn’t the whole problem, but it cleared the defense up,” Whitt said. “He was receptive. He hasn’t had those issues at all.”
On Wednesday, Polamalu was telling just one side of his story when he said to a group of reporters, “I don’t have any more freedom than anybody else has in the defense.”
Based on Horton’s explanation, the strong safety has an assignment on every play. However, neither defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau nor Horton would ever clamp down and prevent him from taking instinct-driven chances.
“Dick gives him the freedom to line up anywhere he wants, just be where you’re supposed to be when the ball’s snapped,” one Steelers coach said. “He will be at the line of scrimmage, and right before the ball is snapped he will drop and play Cover 2.”
When Polamalu entered the league in 2003, he ran 40 yards in 4.49 seconds. The 207-pound Polamalu probably isn’t that fast now, but everyone has seen how rapidly he moves from point A to point B when the scent is strong.
“I’ve seen him leave the half field safety spot and try to cut something in the middle of the field,” Packers head coach Mike McCarthy said. “He’s aggressive that way. I expect him to be their pressure player this week, too.”
In the 12th game, Polamalu blitzed when he was supposed to cover and the result was a 61-yard catch for Baltimore’s Boldin.
“He goes, ‘It was my fault,’” said Horton. “I just correct it. He’s one of the rare guys that trusts his ability to go do something. A lot of guys see things but are afraid to pull the trigger.”
Arians and Whitt mentioned Ravens safety Ed Reed as the third player in the Woodson-Polamalu class.
“When we play Ed Reed, who I think next to Troy is the most dynamic guy, we do not throw a football not knowing where he’s at,” said Arians. “But every now and then you can move them with your eyes.”
In the secret game Sunday, that’s precisely what Aaron Rodgers will be trying to do with Polamalu. Rodgers is well aware that Polamalu will be watching his eyes. It’s up to Rodgers to look him off while dealing with the Steelers’ rush.
“Wherever the ball is, Polamalu is,” said Packers’ wide receiver James Jones. “You can get him. Playmakers sometimes guess, and they guess wrong sometimes. We’ve got to account for him, but he’s got to worry about us, too.”
When the team met late last season, Polamalu was on the sidelines in street clothes with a knee injury and the Packers torched the Steelers for 436 yards and 36 points. Now they must deal with Polamalu.
“That defense with him in there is 1,000 times better,” said Jones. “A 1,000 times better.”
The same surely would ring true for the Green Bay defense with and without Woodson.
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