Steelers' James Harrison, Troy Polamalu look back on injury-plagued season

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a very unfufilling season in 2012, leaving the field for the final time at 8-8 and out of the playoff mix in the AFC.

Much of the reason had to do with injuries, with the losses of key defensive players Troy Polamalu and outside linebacker James Harrison.

Now that everything is set and done, both are looking back on what was and hoping for a better future health-wise, according to triblive.com.

After being out the first three games of the season while trying to get his knee working right, Harrison was never quite right, playing like a man not at full strength.

"It took a little while to get my knee back to where it needed to be, and it‘s still not there," Harrison said. "But now I‘ll have the time to rehab it properly and get it back to 100 percent and get back to training the way I‘m used to training."

Polamalu has been constantly injured in recent times, and this year was no different. Polamalu missed a huge chunk of the year with a strained calf muscle, leaving the Steelers very thin in the secondary.

"That‘s what was hard for me — I wasn‘t healthy all year," said Polamalu, a seven-time Pro Bowl player. "Usually, you have (the season opener) going for you. Then, after that, it‘s forget about it, but I didn‘t."

Now, both players will have ample time to regroup in a longer offseason than either expected to have.