Troy Polamalu Wins AFC Defensive Player of the Week

Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Ben Roethlisberger deserves all of the praise he has received for recently winning November’s AFC Offensive Player of the Week award. Pittsburgh’s signal-caller has been nothing short of fantastic during the team’s current three-game winning streak, and the Steelers have definitely benefited from his play as they have crawled back into the AFC postseason race.

While we should all be tipping our caps to “Big Ben,” we should also be giving a hearty round of applause to Troy Polamalu for recently winning the AFC’s Defensive Player of the Week award according to the Steelers’ official website.

The veteran strong safety enjoyed his best performance of the last three seasons last weekend against the Cleveland Browns, so it was certainly nice to see him recognized for his efforts.

Overall, Polamalu racked up four tackles, one sack, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and one pass defensed during Pittsburgh’s 27-11 win. Troy looked like the 2010-version of himself out on the field on Sunday, particularly from a play-making perspective.

Polamalu’s first big play came late in the first half when he forced Chris Ogbonnaya to fumble, recovered said fumble after wrestling the ball away from the running back, and set the Steelers up to kick a field goal right before half time. Later in the game, a sack-strip by Polamalu led to a recovery by Cameron Heyward and another thwarted scoring opportunity for the Browns.

It was nothing short of awesome to see the former USC Trojan return to his old form last weekend, and Pittsburgh’s defense will need more stellar play from Polamalu if they wish to make a postseason push.

Stats & Contract Info. Provided By: ESPN.com, Steelers.com , Spotrac, and Pro Football Reference

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