This reminds me a lot of a debate I had for years with a friend of mine regarding Troy Polamalu. My buddy is also a huge Steelers fan and he just hated No. 43.
If you asked him right now who was the most overrated player in NFL history he would immediately blurt out the name Troy Polamalu.
My buddy really thought Polamalu was a liability to the Steelers’ defense over the years because he was always out of position and regularly following his instincts rather than the structure of the defense.
For many, many years, during every Steelers game, every single time the defense would surrender a touchdown, I would get a text from him blaming it all on the Steelers’ strong safety. To be perfectly honest, he was often right.
However, he was also missing the bigger picture. Polamalu was prone to dumb mistakes and he could be a liability in pass coverage. However, he was also a tremendous asset to that defense because he was so explosive and instinctive and it made the defense extraordinarily unpredictable, which in turn helped create indecision on the part of the opposing offenses, which made the defense better.
However, if you are just judging Polamalu through the narrow lens of pass coverage responsibilities them yes, he at times looked like a horrible player.
I think that is extraordinarily analogous to what we have with Letang and the Penguins. If you are only judging him based solely on his mistakes then of course he’s going to come out on the wrong side of any analysis. However, if you evaluate his play with a broader and more comprehensive lens, it’s very clear that he has long been a unique weapon for the Pittsburgh Penguins and an ENORMOUS reason for the team’s success over the past decade.
If you asked him right now who was the most overrated player in NFL history he would immediately blurt out the name Troy Polamalu.
My buddy really thought Polamalu was a liability to the Steelers’ defense over the years because he was always out of position and regularly following his instincts rather than the structure of the defense.
For many, many years, during every Steelers game, every single time the defense would surrender a touchdown, I would get a text from him blaming it all on the Steelers’ strong safety. To be perfectly honest, he was often right.
However, he was also missing the bigger picture. Polamalu was prone to dumb mistakes and he could be a liability in pass coverage. However, he was also a tremendous asset to that defense because he was so explosive and instinctive and it made the defense extraordinarily unpredictable, which in turn helped create indecision on the part of the opposing offenses, which made the defense better.
However, if you are just judging Polamalu through the narrow lens of pass coverage responsibilities them yes, he at times looked like a horrible player.
I think that is extraordinarily analogous to what we have with Letang and the Penguins. If you are only judging him based solely on his mistakes then of course he’s going to come out on the wrong side of any analysis. However, if you evaluate his play with a broader and more comprehensive lens, it’s very clear that he has long been a unique weapon for the Pittsburgh Penguins and an ENORMOUS reason for the team’s success over the past decade.