Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu had some choice words for commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday.

Polamalu was critical of the league's crackdown on illegal hits and said Goodell has too much power.

"He's got all the power, and that may be part of the problem. There needs to be some type of separation of power, like our government," Polamalu said. "I don't think it should be based totally on what two or three people may say that are totally away from the game. It should be some of the players that are currently playing."

Since the NFL announced its stricter policy, Polamalu said, "There is definitely a paranoia that is unneeded. Just because we had a few weekends ago, I think somebody said, five [suspect] hits out of 1,000. Yeah, I think there is too much paranoia."

Polamalu also believes the NFL's stance could lessen the sport's popularity in Europe, where the 49ers and Broncos played on Sunday. The NFL is aggressively marketing its game overseas, with talk that London could have a franchise within 10 years.

"If people want to watch soccer, they can watch soccer. The people who are attracted to this game, they're going to see the big hits, they don't care about touchdowns," Polamalu said. "So you're also taking apart what attracts people to this game."