Ryan Clark once casually popped his Steelers teammate Troy Polamalu’s dislocated shoulder on the sidelines bench

Ryan Clark and Troy Polamalu played together for seven years in Pittsburgh.

Ryan Clark once casually popped his Steelers teammate Troy Polamalu’s dislocated shoulder on the sidelines bench

Ryan Clark popped in Troy Polamalu's shoulder (via X)

The NFL is facing some issues with players faking injuries. A lot of players have used the trick to control the game clock. It has been done before, it is happening right now and it might happen in the future as well. Faking an injury in an ultra-physical sport such as the NFL is easy. However, playing through an injury is always a tough thing to do. Troy Polamalu will know about that.

Polamalu, the former Pittsburgh Steelers star safety, was a tough player. In his 12 seasons in the NFL, all with the Steelers, the Hall of Famer won two Super Bowls and was named the Defensive Player of the League once, in 2010. He also never shied away from an injury. In an old video posted on Twitter by JPAFootball, Polamalu dislocated his shoulder against the Cleveland Browns in 2011. What happened next was shocking, to say the least.

YouTube video

In the video, Polamalu can be seen sitting on the sidelines, in pain, after dislocating his right shoulder. His fellow defenseman and current NFL analyst, Ryan Clark came to his rescue as he casually popped the shoulder back in. It looked painful as the video was captioned as:

FS Video
Throwback to Ryan Clark casually popping Troy Polamalu’s shoulder back in place during a game in 2011. That looked painful…

Polamalu was drafted in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the Steelers. He went on to play till 2014 and was widely regarded as one of the best safeties of all time. He and Clark played together for seven years and won Super Bowl XLIII together.

Ryan Clark and Troy Polamalu had developed a great bond during their Steelers years

Ryan Clark and Troy Polamalu formed a brilliant safety duo for seven years. They won a Super Bowl together and were a nightmare for offenses all around the league. Earlier in January this year, Clark opened up about his relationship with Polamalu during their Steelers years.

Troy Polamalu and Ryan Clark
Troy Polamalu and Ryan Clark (via X)

Clark said on the Varsity House podcast in January:

We developed a relationship to where I wanted to see him do well more than I wanted to see myself [do well] and vice versa, and then we all got that. The whole team got it. And because we could do that, there was just so much love in our relationships, that we learned to be one.
Ryan Clark on Varsity House

He further spoke about his relationship with Polamalu: 

We just did everything together, all the time. It's weird, kind of-my wife would laugh. But every step, every week was the same, and he was a part of it until after we took showers. Then I'd see him in warm-ups. And that's just what we did.

Clark retired from professional football in 2015 and became an analyst. Polamalu hung up his helmet a year before in 2014. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020 after a stellar 12-year career.

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