Players make the coach. Bill Cowher’s success was certainly furthered by Troy Polamalu. Though the two were together for only the final few years of Cowher’s coaching career, Cowher helped mold a future Hall of Famer. Not that it was always simple. Joining the Second Act podcast hosted by former NFL defensive backs Roman Harper and Charles “Peanut” Tillman, Cowher shared several great stories of the fun – and difficulty – of coaching one of football’s smartest players like Polamalu.
“We’re playing Carson Palmer and the Bengals,” Cowher said. “Carson Palmer and Troy were roommates in college at USC. And so Troy comes up. We had called Cover 2. All of a sudden, Troy is up there. And I just start yelling, ‘Cloud, Cloud, Cloud!’ The ball’s snapped, I go Dick [LeBeau], ‘What the hell? Troy, he didn’t even play the defense.’ And he throws to the flat, Troy makes the play.
“I go, ‘Troy, it was Cover 2.’ He goes, ‘I know, I know. But I knew it was Carson. If I was in the box, he was going to think it was three-deep because it’s eight in the box. So I told Deshea [Townsend], you take half the field. I’m going to take the flat from here in the box. So we have Cover 2 covered.’ I told Dick, that’s a great idea. I didn’t think about that one. I go, ‘If you’re going to do this, next time, can you tell us you’re going to do it?'”
Simplifying the football jargon, Polamalu made sure the integrity of the play call stayed intact by changing his and Townsend’s assignments. Effectively, it became Inverted Cover 2, a popular concept in today’s NFL. All because Polamalu knew exactly how the opponent would think and could counter against it, staying a step ahead in football’s chess match. That didn’t just come against former roommates but all opponents. Polamalu’s football intelligence was elite and made him impossible to predict. Sometimes to even his own coaching staff.
Under LeBeau, Pittsburgh’s aggressive Fire Zone defense was the perfect fit for Polamalu. Aggressive, chaotic-looking, and creative, it suited Polamalu’s style. But Cowher knew there was always a line to walk, even for football’s greats.
“Be situationally aware of what we’re doing,” Cowher said of his message to Polamalu. “You gotta be you but be aware of where we are in a game. What we need to have done. Don’t be selfish. Don’t try to make a play when you don’t need to make a play.”
More often than not, Polamalu walked that line. Making plays without hurting his team. Cowher recalled plays where he’d time the snap and leap the center, joking the team simply changed coverage on the fly in moments like that. From three-deep, four-under coverage to three-deep, three-under, making it work in those moments were Polamalu truly went rogue. Fortunately, he was so good at timing the snap that coverage was rarely needed.
Cowher needed Polamalu and Polamalu needed Cowher. Together, the two won a Super Bowl, one for the thumb in 2005.
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