Star safeties Reed, Polamalu entering the danger zone

NFL seasons are a marathon, not a sprint.

NFL careers are a sprint, not a marathon.

It sounded strange recently when Tony Dungy said of one of his former safeties, “Mike Doss had a good career.”

Doss played six NFL seasons. He is 28 years old. It is not strange in the NFL, where the average career lasts less than four years.

The “great young safeties” of the AFC North are moving swiftly toward the “grand old men” phase.

Baltimore’s Ed Reed enters his eighth NFL season and will turn 31 on Sept. 11. Troy Polamalu, 28, moves into his seventh season with Pittsburgh.

They’re halfway home, maybe more, unless they last as long as Rodney Harrison, who admitted recently his body was barking — it told him 15 seasons of high-speed bumper cars was plenty.

Hall of Fame careers are like a steak which you are fed piece by piece while wearing a blindfold. You have no idea how much is left. Maybe it was just a 6-ounce filet.

Both Reed and Polamalu were exquisite in 2008. They were big reasons their teams faced each other in the AFC title game. They started in the Pro Bowl.

Cleveland seemed to be developing a third elite AFC North safety when Sean Jones broke out in 2006, but Jones didn’t build on the momentum and now is fighting for a starting job with the Eagles.

The Browns still have high hopes for fifth-year pro Brodney Pool, who was seen as a Round 1 talent when he was picked in Round 2 as a 20-year-old out of Oklahoma.

“You see (Pool) in the film room late at night,” said Browns running back Jamal Lewis.

Pool still has a long way to go before he is compared with Reed and Polamalu in broad daylight.

Reed puts Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome in mind of Rod Woodson, in one sense.

“The comparison is, if there is a play to be made in the fourth quarter to win a game or stop momentum, Rod Woodson was gonna make that play, and Ed Reed is gonna make that play,” Newsome said.

Woodson was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame the day before this year’s Super Bowl.

Polamalu basically put the Steelers in that Super Bowl.

In the AFC title game on Jan. 18, Reed and Co. kept the Steelers fairly well in check. Baltimore trailed just 16-14 and had the ball with five minutes left.

That’s when the Ravens found out — not that they didn’t already know — Polamalu will make “that play,” too. The Pittsburgh safety returned an interception 40 yards for a clinching touchdown with 4:39 left.

Lewis has seen plenty of these great safeties. He was Reed’s teammate for five years. Now, he faces Reed and Polamalu twice a year.

Would he take Reed over Polamalu?

“It’s not a big difference,” he said. “You see both of ’em running up, running back, running all over the place. Both of ’em can go up under and run under the deep ball downfield.

“What really makes both of ’em special is both can catch the interception and take it back to the house.”

The NFL is nobody’s long-term home. Seventeen years, the length of Woodson’s career as cornerback then a safety, is a pro football eternity.

If Reed and Polamalu left the game today, they could say they accomplished a lot. The Cleveland kid, Pool, is only 25 years old.

But then, NFL careers are a sprint, remember? Better hurry, kid.



(cantonrep.com)