NASHVILLE – Tony Pollard regularly plays in front of big crowds, some rooting for him, some against him.
But no matter what, the Titans running back will always have his own personal cheering section, whether they're at the stadium, or watching the game on television.
And, despite the young age of his four young children, Pollard said they're paying very close attention.
"It is crazy, because they actually know when I am on the field, and when I am playing," Pollard said with a smile. "I thought they wouldn't notice things like that, but they know. My five-year-old, some days she'll send me a video before the game and give me a pep talk, telling me we need to do good, that we need to win this game, that I have to score a touchdown.
"When she sees me score, she thinks we won. And every time I score, she asks if we'd won the game. It is fun to get that feedback from them, for sure."
Pollard, in his eighth NFL season, is coming off his second straight 100-yard game.
Pollard ran for 117 yards and two touchdowns against the Bengals, a week after racking up 129 yards and three touchdowns against the Browns.
On the season, Pollard now has 595 yards and six scores.
A Memphis native, Pollard's family – his wife, Kerra, and two boys and two girls – are his biggest supporters, though his parents, Torria and Tarrance, and two siblings, Tneshia and Terrion, are plenty proud, too.
Pollard's five-year-old daughter Taraji is the one who regularly gives him pep talks and feedback, while daughter, Maui (3), and sons, TJ (1) and Malachi (four months) will learn more as they get older.
On Sunday in Cincinnati, Pollard produced a highlight-reel run in the first quarter, a 40-yard touchdown run when five different Bengals put at least one hand on him. Pollard put his right hand on two Bengals with some pretty impressive stiff-arms, and he threw Bengals safety Bryan Cook off him on the way to the end zone.
His teammates loved it.
"That energy, it is contagious," Pollard said of the reaction he got from his teammates. "It travels through the entire team. You see it on the sideline during the run, how guys get pumped up. And when you walk back to the sideline, everybody is hyped up, everybody is excited. Those types of plays are big."
With a smile, Pollard knows no one was more fired up about it than five-year-old Taraji.
"She loved it," Pollard said. "She thinks I'm a superstar."
