It's an offseason of change in Pittsburgh. The Steelers are counting on more young players than usual to step into starting roles. The offense has been revamped. And the team is feeling a little ornery.
"There's a little more of an edge," safety Troy Polamalu said Tuesday, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "Sometimes, when you've had consecutive years of some success, you get a little complacent, which is maybe natural, I don't know. It's definitely something that we've probably dealt with around here a little bit, last season being an example."
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Polamalu says it's nice to see all the "young faces" and calls his new understudy safety, Shamarko Thomas, a "great, great kid." Polamalu is at the point in his career where he calls other players "kids" and knows that durability is an issue. Polamalu says he's addressed that with a new training regimen designed to break down scar tissue.
"I have done quite a bit of different things this offseason. ... Not to get too deep into muscular biomechanics, but you can break down scar tissue. The problem is your body has to continue to learn how to re-adapt with broken scar tissue. These are all things I have learned," Polamalu said. "Hopefully, all of this will make these problems obsolete."
Just saying muscular biomechanics is deep enough for me. Polamalu seems to realize he's at the point of his career where he needs to stay healthy, or more big changes on the Steelers will follow.
"Time is not stale," he said.
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