Flying Samoan: Troy Polamalu

LaDainian Tomlinson lines up behind Phillip Rivers.

Snap count is two, one hut comes, then the other.

Rivers reverses out and places the ball right into the hands of Tomlinson.

Tomlinson jukes out Brett Keisel, spins off James Farrior

Then, something happens.

Through his black visor, Tomlinson barely makes out a large cloud of blackness, and when I say black, I mean midnight in a cave. But this is not a mass of air or a cloud of smoke.

This mass is a wall and Tomlinson slams into it—hard.

Meet Troy Polamalu. He is a Greek Orthodox Christian but he is far from a gentle churchgoer on the football field. He is a missile seeking out enemy targets and annihilating them.

Trying to find a good word for Polamalu, I stumbled upon the perfect word—beast.

Name me one other person in the league who is a football seeking missile, a black cloud,  a lightning bolt, a five-time Pro Bowler, and future Hall of Famer.

Exactly.

How did he become so good? So amazing? So acrobatic?

I guess you could say he was blessed by "The man upstairs." Polamalu gives glory to that same guy after every play and on the sidelines.

He is a family man, simple, plain, but full of amazing skills. He loves his little boy and his wife, Theodora, is also a devout Greek Orthodox like himself.

Some people are blessed, but this 5'10'', 207 lb. safety is an exception to the rule.

He is extremely blessed.