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Tennessee Titans S Bernard Pollard out for year with Achilles’ injury

By Phil Watson

Sep 21, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Tennessee Titans strong safety Bernard Pollard (31) against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals won 33-7. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 21, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Tennessee Titans strong safety Bernard Pollard (31) against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals won 33-7. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
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Bernard Pollard out for the season

Tennessee Titans safety Bernard Pollard will miss the rest of the season after rupturing his Achilles tendon in Sunday’s come-from-ahead loss to the Cleveland Browns.

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Pollard, in his ninth NFL season, has been one of the more effective defenders for the Titans this season and had 27 tackles, a sack and one pass breakup in five games.

Tennessee has lost four in a row since an opening win at Kansas City and Sunday’s was the most gut-wrenching of the bunch, losing a 25-point lead in a 29-28 loss to the Browns.

Per Pro Football Talk, Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt announced Monday that Pollard will undergo season-ending surgery to repair the injury.

Pollard is in his second year with Tennessee and has a year remaining on his contract. Last year, he had 99 tackles, half of a sack, 10 pass breakups and three interceptions, starting all 16 games.

Pollard was a second-round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs out of Purdue in 2006 and spent three years with the Chiefs, two with the Houston Texans and two with the Baltimore Ravens before coming to the Titans.

He was part of Baltimore’s Super Bowl championship squad in 2012.

Known more as a hitter than a pass defender, Pollard has 10½ sacks and 710 tackles in his nine seasons, while notching 12 interceptions and being credited with 51 pass breakups.

He also was credited with a safety for the Chiefs in 2007.

Somewhere in New England, fans are cheering quietly, particularly those who remember Pollard’s hit on quarterback Tom Brady in the 2008 opener that ended Brady’s season or Pollard’s crushing blow to running back Stevan Ridley in the 2012 AFC Championship.

Those plays, and others, have earned Pollard a reputation as one of the NFL’s dirtiest players—fair or unfair as the perception may be.

He hits hard. It’s a violent game. I’ve never had a problem with Bernard Pollard. Of course, he also never kneecapped my team’s quarterback or decapitated a running back I follow, either.

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