Former Ravens linebacker disrespects Troy Polamalu

Bart Scott gave a backhanded compliment to the former Pittsburgh Steelers safety.

During the majority of his 12 seasons in the NFL, former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu was the best defender on the field every time he suited up to play.

Polamalu, who was a four-time First-Team All-Pro, always seemed to come up with a big play whenever the Steelers needed him to. There are very few former Pittsburgh players that had as big of an impact on the team’s performance every week like he did.

Interestingly enough, while Polamalu was making defensive magic for the Steelers, there was another All-Pro safety in the AFC North who was making just as many impressive plays.

Bart Scott doesn’t like comparing the former Pittsburgh Steelers safety and Ed Reed

Over with the rival Baltimore Ravens, Ed Reed was someone who had a similar ability to impact the game like Polamalu did in Pittsburgh.

Despite the fact that both safeties have now been voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, former Ravens linebacker Bart Scott doesn’t believe it’s fair to compare Reed and Polamalu to each other. Scott recently spoke with Bleacher Report’s Adam Lefkoe and he attempted to explain his thought process.

"“Troy Polamalu is going to go to the Hall of Fame and he’s very deserving of going to the Hall of Fame. But to mention Troy Polamalu in the same breath as Ed Reed, to me it’s disrespectful.”"

Scott went on to say that Reed’s ability to, “bait people,” into throwing towards him like Peyton Manning is what set him apart from Polamalu. He went on to compare the former Steelers safety with other Hall of Famers like Brian Dawkins and Ronnie Lott while he compared Reed to former NFL players like Charles Woodson and Rod Woodson.

Does Scott know that it’s okay for two guys to play the same position and still be great in their own unique way? While Reed might (keyword being might) have been better in pass coverage, Polamalu was a much better pass rusher, he was a better run defender, he forced more fumbles, and he did all of this stuff in fewer career games than the former Baltimore safety.

There’s an obvious bias in Scott’s comments since he was a teammate with Reed for multiple years when both of them suited up for the Ravens. So his thoughts really shouldn’t be too surprising.

But to basically say that Polamalu’s greatness isn’t even worthy of being compared to what Reed did during his NFL career, Scott is just wrong and there’s no other way to describe it.