{"id":916939,"date":"2026-06-12T14:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/916939\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T14:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:39:15","slug":"this-guy-must-suck-former-nfl-te-underestimated-troy-polamalu-and-got-humbled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/916939\/","title":{"rendered":"‘This Guy Must Suck’: Former NFL TE Underestimated Troy Polamalu And Got ‘Humbled’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers defense teemed with eventual Pro Hall of Famers. It was one of the most stacked units in NFL history, and it helped set the tone for the Steelers for years to come. They\u2019ve employed several other great defenders since then, too. That includes Troy Polamalu, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020. However, Polamalu wasn\u2019t always a legendary player.<\/a> It took years for him to build his resum\u00e9, but former NFL tight end Christian Fauria quickly learned that underestimating Polamalu was a bad idea, even before he was well known.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying for the Patriots and there\u2019s this young rookie strong safety, crazy hair, wears some stupid number, number 43,\u201d Fauria said recently on NFL Players Second Acts podcast.<\/a> \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Who is this guy?\u2019 It\u2019s Troy Polamalu. We have all these plays where we\u2019re comboing up to the safety, and to my ignorance, I didn\u2019t really study, didn\u2019t really know much about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI literally just saw number 43, I\u2019m like, \u2018This guy must suck.\u2019 Because it\u2019s a terrible number. Those guys usually get cut. Sure enough, couple plays, and he\u2019s just coming down and blowing me up, and he\u2019s blowing up the play. I\u2019m like, \u2018Freaking A, why\u2019s this guy getting downhill so fast?\u2019 And he has no fear. Zero fear whatsoever, and I was not ready for it\u2026He humbled me in a hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fauria first played against Polamalu was 2004, but t\u2019s unclear if that\u2019s the game that Fauria is referencing.<\/p>\n

However, the Steelers beat the Patriots, 34-20, in that matchup, so it\u2019s possible that loss sticks out in Fauria\u2019s mind. Polamalu recorded three tackles and a pass defensed in that game. While that isn\u2019t a gaudy stat line, knowing Polamalu, he likely stood out at every given opportunity.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like Polamalu was a household name entering his second season, either. He didn\u2019t really establish himself until that year, making his first Pro Bowl and being named a second-team All-Pro. It took him some time to get comfortable in the NFL, and he blossomed after Dick LeBeau returned as the Steelers\u2019 defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

Fauria and the Patriots got some revenge on Polamalu and the Steelers later in 2004, though. The two teams faced off again in the playoffs, and while Polamalu posted seven tackles, the Patriots won, 41-27. New England wasn\u2019t caught off guard by Pittsburgh a second time.<\/p>\n

Still, that season was a launching point for Polamalu. He put his name on the map on the way to becoming one of the NFL\u2019s best defenders.<\/a> He finished his career as an eight-time Pro Bowler with four first-team All-Pro selections, two second-team All-Pro selections, and an NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.<\/p>\n

Fauria might\u2019ve been one of the last players to take Polamalu lightly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers defense teemed with eventual Pro Hall of Famers. It was one of the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[35778,7,249,6,122580,520,57,2360,426,18584],"class_list":["post-916939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-christian-fauria","tag-football","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-players-second-acts","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers","tag-troy-polamalu"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116737655699112292","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}