Titans out to hurt Miller?

Did it seems to anyone else that the Titans were out to hurt Heath? That first series it looked like they were diving at his knees, now I am not sure maybe his size makes him harder to bring down and you have to go low but they looked like they were trying to hurt him more than tackle. That may be why we saw him jawing at that DB late in the game, something so uncharacteristic of Heath.

 

At first I thought so too, but in all honesty - that's textbook open-field tackling for a guy his size. Try to arm tackle and he'll go over/through you and/or drag you for 5-10 more yards. Lay a shoulder to him and he'll deflect off and gain more yardage. The only option is to go low and take his legs out. Yeah, it sucks - but faced with those choices...

 

Heath has actually let a few people know that he doesn't appreciate how low they go. Wasn't it against the clowns a few years ago when he got hit and then got up and put his finger in someone's face about how low they went?

 

I think that's just the way the NFL is going in terms of tackling TE's. I have a friend who is a Pats fan and he goes crazy every game because he thinks everybody is going low and trying to take out Gronk's knees. With all the penalties for going high and how hard it is to bring down some of these bigger TE's now I think defensive players have just starting going low on them. And yeah, I think over time it will lead to more busted knees as both Heath and Gronk have had to deal with.

 

I think he was jawing at that guy because that guy gave Heath a forearm to the face as he was going down.

 

This is what I was coming here to post. I didn't see notice it while I was at the game because I was too busy yelling "Heeeeeath!!!" LOL. So I went back and watched it on my dvr and as the guy came in to try and help close the tackle he sorta knocks Heath's head back and pushes his facemask. He then gets up and lets him have it. Rightfully so.

 

Yup, it was a cheap shot from the start. No reason to put your hand/arm up like that when you're coming into help on the tackle.

 

And you know if a player who has as much professionalism as Heath does, to say something about it then it would have had to been an ongoing problem. We know Heath does speak up but it's rare.

 

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought.

 

Going low is pretty much the only way to tackle TE's. It's pretty common around the league

 

I'd be fine with that if they were trying to tackle but the first few hits they were laying into his knees and showing no attempt to wrap him up. They did the same to Brown and Bell but showed excellent fundamentals by hitting with their shoulders and wrapping up the legs which led me to ask if they are showing good form on others why not Heath?

 

Troy actually tackles like this a lot since the H2H and defenseless receiver rules have taken the forefront. Sometimes he'll grab for ankles but many times he just goes low. I think it's where the NFL is going. There are too many chances for penalties if defenders try to lay players out. And just slamming into a player doesn't guarantee you'll take them down.

 

They played dirty the whole game trying to hurt Ben and Heath wasnt the half of it, amazing to me they only had 1 penalty, their left tackle held Harrison on every play and had hands to the face several times, they had at least two roughing the passer calls they got away with, they definately got home cooking from the refs, it was shameful...

 

Do you see Heath chewing one of the Titan players out? He very rarely if ever gets angry and he was HOT. I don't recall what play it was or why he was mad but since you brought up the attacking the knee area it was likely what happened

 

Harrison getting held is just a given, anymore. I got used to that before he left the Steelers. Tackles have one hand on his chest and the other on his back... never a flag... oh wait... then there's the times they don't do that... and they're choking the sh*t out of him...

 

On the one tackle, Heath was being tackled low and a second defender came in high. I wondered when it happened if that was a penalty (when its against the Steelers, no call mean nothing).