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Tuesday, October 19, 2010
I agree with Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons. This is crazy.
"That was something I've never seen before up close and personal," Timmons said about teammate James Harrison knocking Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Cribbs unconscious and nearly doing the same thing to another receiver, Mohamed Massaquoi, during a seven-minute span in the second quarter of Sunday's 28-10 Steelers' victory.
"That was crazy."
I'm behind Harrison 100 percent. I don't believe he should be suspended for delivering helmet-to-helmet blows that are against the rules but weren't called during the game.
Oh, there was a flag thrown following Harrison's hit on Massaquoi — against the Browns! Center Alex Mack was assessed a 5-yard delay of game penalty for kicking the football after the play.
FILE - This Oct. 17, 2010, file photo shows Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison lining up against the Cleveland Browns during the second quarter of a an NFL football game, in Pittsburgh. Harrison states his objective matter-of-factly: He's out to hurt any opposing player who roams into his vicinity. (AP)Why weren't Harrison's hits penalized?
"Legal hits, not fineable hits," said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who endorses the way Harrison knocked Cribbs and Massaquoi to the ground. "He played good football."
Played good football. Think about those three words.
Harrison was playing football the way he was taught a long time ago, the way the Steelers want him to play. In Tomlin's opinion, Harrison did nothing wrong. Just doing his job.
Multiply that thought process by 32 teams and coaching staffs with 53 players on each roster. Tomlin isn't the only coach who thinks that way, and Harrison isn't the only player who carries that mindset onto the field. Tomlin and Harrison are the rule, not the exception.
NFL vice president of football operations Ray Anderson said Monday that the league will begin cracking down on helmet-to-helmet hits, perhaps immediately. That means suspensions and/or fines for Harrison and Atlanta cornerback Dunta Robinson, whose jarring collision with Philadelphia wide receiver DeSean Jackson knocked the latter out of Sunday's game with a concussion.
Don't get me started about former NFL safety Rodney Harrison, an analyst for NBC who said during Sunday night's Colts-Redskins broadcast that suspending players is the only way to get their attention.
Harrison — no relation to James — should know. He was fined more than $200,000 during his career and suspended one game in 2002 for a helmet-to-helmet hit.
Of course, James Harrison didn't help his cause when he said his goal is to hurt opposing players (as opposed to injuring them). Politically correct he is not.
Suspending Harrison for a game won't stop him from playing the only way he knows — staying aggressive and tackling hard within the limits of the rules without breaking them.
Here's where the NFL gets itself in trouble. According to the rule book, Harrison's head-to-helmet tackle on Cribbs broke no rules because Cribbs was a ball-carrier.
That tackle knocked Cribbs senseless, yet was legal. Harrison's tackle on Massaquoi didn't knock Massaquoi out, but is considered more serious because the receiver was in a "defenseless" position.
How about the tackles resulting in concussions for Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler? No penalties were given in either instance.
Were those plays not punishable because the concussions occurred when the back of the quarterbacks' head hit the ground? Are those concussions considered less severe than the ones occurring during the most recent slate of games? Can we even begin to compare the severity of concussions?
The NFL is based on legalized violence, but commissioner Roger Goodell wants to put a dress on a pig. The NFL can't have it both ways, but that's precisely what Goodell is attempting to do.
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