"As you know, the Steelers never revealed the exact nature of Troy Polamalu's late-season injury, referring to it simply as a foot injury (I believe was the terminology). Anyway, I have since informed you that his injury was a slight tear of his Achilles tendon, suffered returning that interception for touchdown in a Dec. 12 game against the Bengals.

His rehab appears to be going well.

Polamalu is receiving treatment and doing rehabilitation in Los Angeles under the care of an orthopedic surgeon who is friendly with the Steelers medical staff. He does not need surgery, which is the good news. The injury is healing on its own -- with the help of therapy, of course -- and he is progressing on schedule.

Polamalu is expected to be recovered in time for training camp, if there is a training camp. But the team will no doubt go easy on him in Latrobe, just as they did during the second half of the regular season when he practiced just one day a week (Friday). But he would not have been able to take part in their off-season training program, if they had them.

Polamalu's performance in the postseason, most notably in the Super Bowl, was diminished because of his injury to his Achilles. It robbed him of his trademark explosiveness. But I'm told there is no reason for them to believe he can't or won't be a dominating player again in 2011.

When he is healthy, as he was for the first three-quarters of the 2010 season, the five-time Pro Bowl safety is a game-changing player who was voted the NFL's defensive player of the year.

Meantime, the prognosis for defensive end Aaron Smith is still a little murky."