by Neal Coolong
(via Behind The Steel Curtain)
If Seahawks fans were upset over our tongue-in-cheek evaluation of a recent Pro Football Weekly feature which pitted the Steelers defense against Seattle’s in a vote-to-win contest (and believe me, they were), they’ll get even more agitated about this.
SB Nation’s Ryan Van Bibber ranked the Steelers‘ safety combination of Ryan Clark and Troy Polamalu as the league’s best, edging out Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor of Seattle.
While I’m sure Steeler Nation won’t raise the victory flag over this, both teams have excellent safeties heading into 2012.
All four made their respective Pro Bowl teams – Thomas and Polamalu were voted in and Clark and Chancellor were injury replacements.
While Polamalu and Clark represent an older guard among the league’s best, Thomas and Chancellor are players on the rise. It just takes a lot to top the anchor points on the league’s top scoring defense.
Van Bibber listed the Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills as third, fourth and fifth, respectively. It’s interesting to note Pittsburgh has both the oldest safeties on the list, and was the only team in the top five to make the playoffs in 2011. The other four teams could surprise the league this season, though. The Chiefs get back several players lost to injury last year, Seattle looks to improve their quarterback play substantially by not starting Tarvaris Jackson and Buffalo’s addition of DE Mario Williams and the return of stud RB Fred Jackson could help stave off a second-half collapse like they suffered in 2011.
