Steelers safety Polamalu considered LeBeau more deserving than Lombardi

The Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu considered the team’s defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau deserving to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame even more than Vince Lombardi.


“As a football player, a special teams coach, a position coach, a coordinator, a head coach, nobody has done it all like he has,” Polamalu said of LeBeau, who has spent most of his coaching career as an assistant. “He’s done everything but own a team. He’s more deserving than Vince Lombardi, if you’re talking to me.”

LeBeau and former Broncos star running back Floyd Little are the two senior finalists for the Hall of Fame. The former has been an NFL player and coach for 51 years, and Little finished his career with 6,323 yards of rushing, 43 touchdowns, 215 receptions for 2,418 yards, nine TDs, and ranking seventh in career rushing when he retired in 1975. LeBeau had 62 interceptions and started 171 games while he was a player playing for the Detroit Lions.

Lombardi was a legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1967. He won five league championships during his nine years of career and the NFL championship trophy is named for him.

Vick’s return causes negative reaction

There were fliers on the windshields of cars in the parking lot outside the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. They surely came from those who are opposed to the return of Michael Vick, who served 18 months in federal prison for running a dog fighting ring, because it read: “Help Wanted: The NFL Hires Pet Killers.”


Whoever made the fliers, they surely wanted to show that they will not welcome Vick back to NFL. That may explain why so many teams ruled out Vick after he was conditionally reinstated to the league. Few team would like to put up with the negative reaction caused by Vick's return.

Although The Associated Press reported Tuesday that some teams had not ruled out pursuing Vick, he has not yet visit or hold any serious negotiation with any team since he was conditionally reinstated.