Nov 2nd 2008 6:00AM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Filed under: Steelers, AFC NorthA couple of years ago Malcolm Gladwell came out with the “Tipping Point,” a book that describes the critical point where a change becomes impossible to stop.

It’s not hard to think of birth of Troy Polamalu’s first kid as a potential tipping point for the Steelers’ chances on Monday night against the Redskins. With starting cornerback Bryant McFadden and starting free safety Ryan Clark already out with injuries, missing Polamalu would have likely put the Steelers over the deep end. At that point, the Steelers would have been relying on a pair of backup safeties as the starters, and no real backups for them when the game began.

You can’t fault Polamalu for wanting to be there for the birth of his son, but it sure would have come at a bad time for the Steelers. But thankfully, Polamalu’s wife gave birth on Friday night, which means that the Steelers strong safety will be back in the lineup on Monday night. Pittsburgh still has way too many players missing the game, but it will have its Pro Bowl safety.