Harrison's verdict is in

Personally I think everyone in the league is "afraid" (for lack of a better word) of except for some of the players.

 

Where is my bull**** flag when I need it? You know damn right well Goodell was licking his chops as soon as he saw the hit.

 

also. The talking heads were all waiting for Harrison to slip up. First remotely illegal hit all year and they go straight to suspension talk. I hope the Steelers crush SF on Monday without JH. How great would it be if Worilds has another game like last week on the right side and Woodley gets after the QB as well. How many teams in the NFL can lose the best player in their front seven, and still kick some serious a** on Defense.

 

Come on man, McCoy didn't run into Harrison, JH delivered the hit, and it was a hit to the helmet. McCoy didn't duck his helmet either, that's clear on the video. Harrison could have avoided the head, but he didn't. I don't think he would have gotten a flag if he went for the ribs, but I know for sure that he wouldn't have been suspended or flagged for doing it. The league is cracking down on helmet to helmet hits due to what we are now learning about repeated concussions. The league doesn't care about hard hits to the body.

 

He wouldn't hurt his neck if he doesn't lead with his head. What he should have done is tuck his head over to the side of McCoy's body then drive his shoulder into McCoy's midsection. That's how most LB'ers are hitting QB's these days because they have learned to adjust their style. That's how I hit when I played (not at a pro level though obviously). He also could have turned his body sideways and driven his shoulder into McCoy's chest, just like a hockey hit. I've played hockey my whole life and have never once delivered a hit to the head, and I've thrown hundreds of hits.

Whether we like it or not, if JH doesn't adjust how he tackles, he'll get 2-4 games next time, and I won't be sympathetic at all. He's been told too many times. 99% of the league has adjusted, only a couple players haven't, JH is one of them.

 

Some guys just refuse to change! I know I would if was costing me that much money!!

 

This is the first "fine worthy" play that JH has made in nearly 20 weeks of football. OK, so maybe he was injured and missed a few of those weeks, but I'm tired of so many comments that he can't or won't change his style of tackling. He was fined 5 times in 10 games at the beginning of last season. Seems to me that he had done very well adapting to the new BS rules. The suspension was due to a notorious hard hitter going high on a weak and small QB. If it had not been JH it would only be a fine, all about who it was and not what he did.

 

I think what I am hearing is a coach who is upset about the suspension, but understands a penalization based on the rules and Harrisons history.

Why can't he or the team come out and be vocally critical? So what, they get fined also? They make enough to pay the fine.

They aren't going to reverse this on appeal EVER or get this rule dropped or changed very much. That's why Harrison needs to change his technique. Not retire, that's stupid. He makes too much to walk away.

BUT, when they make this statement in a press conference style they must make a full case in the statements and frame the conversation that will ensue based on the facts and win the hearts of all fans league wide who see this as a BS issue. Again it won't change much this week, but it will win respect from our players and players all around the league as well as fans the sport wide.

Here are some facts:
1) He thought he was tackling a runner.
2) McCoy had the ball tucked.
3) He didn't get a penalty on the field for helmet to helmet. (the least defendable. ...Hindsight)
4) He hadn't been penalized since week 10 of last season. How many games?
5) Anymore?

Don't get me wrong, I lean towards a few other people here that Harrison dipped his head and lead with the crown. I knew after replay that nothing good was going to come and even said to the guy next to me he might get suspended. But, all that is easy to say from the other side of the screen. I don't think he should have been fined or suspended. It was the most mild of all his hits that got the infractions.

In fact, he might have been protecting his orbital bone if they clashed face masks, because he was reacting to a guy making multiple moves. First he was rushing or covering, then chasing, then trying to defend a pass, then making a sudden tackle or sack. He had his face and hands up in McCoy's then went to make the tackle in a fraction of a second and at very close distance. Realizing his posture was tall for covering and then he suddenly couldn't get low for the tackle and could not get leverage for it they would be face mask to face mask on a collision. He might have made the head dip to protect his orbital bone. It doesn't eliminate the fineable play, but it can explain that he hasn't reverted back to an old technique since he hasn't made the mistake for so long, he was just protecting his injury by bracing and making the tackle.

 

I think the issue for alot of people is that Harrison is not going for the head. People act like he's targeting helmets with his own helmet. They call him a head hunter. Watch the tape, of this one and the ones from last year. You might see his head dip a bit, and McCoy's head dip a bit, and Massaquoi's too, but none of that matters. We're looking at it too closely when we do that. What you can tell from watching the tape is that he is trying to tackle/hit these guys, and he's doing it the right way. He's not aiming for their heads, he's hitting them right in the center of their bodies, in either a perfect form tackle or a perfect form body check. The helmet to helmet collision is a side effect that happens sometimes. It's not like he's headbutting them like a soccer player headbutts a ball (or like Duane Brown headbutted him), or like he has a bullseye on their heads and that's what he's aiming for (Merriweather-style). He's nailing them like a football player does, and the top of his helmet sometimes hits them in the chin/facemask. When I see the hit on McCoy, I see a perfect hit. The rule has changed to make that perfect hit a penalty, and I hate that and disagree with it, but I admit it is now a penalty. So 15 yards it is. But to make Harrison out to be either a villain or a dumbass or stubborn because he is laying people out the way he always has? It's textbook stuff! He is hitting them right in the center of their bodies because it's his job to stop them. On the McCoy hit, both arms hit right at the bottom of the chest. When people say he needs to "adjust" to the game, what they're really saying is that he needs to be thinking not about tackling the player or breaking up the pass or even helping his team, but instead staying away from the player's head. And he's an idiot or a monster for not listening to that?

An extra thought that I've been thinking about: one of the reasons NFL teams don't like to run the option is that defenses then have a legitimate excuse to pummel the quarterback. That's the rule, that if a QB is carrying out a fake, the defense can lay him out. I saw Bart Scott do it to Tebow a few weeks ago, when Tebow handed it off but enthusiastically carried out the fake. Scott bowled him right over even though it was plain as day that he didn't have the ball, and rightly no call was made, because Tebow was pretending he did have it. McCoy said, "Run Run Run Run Run Pass." To me that's the same thing, and the guy who hits him should be given an extra moment of leeway. I know the suspension is less about the timing of the hit and more about the way he hit him, but it's a factor.

 

The fact that we and all the media are having to pick this hit apart and decide was it bad or was it not, or could he have done it differently, points out the fact that this was not a case where a player did something malicious with an obvious intent to injur. There is no way a suspension should have even been in play here. Why is it that it is a Steeler player that also is used to set the example or set a new precedent? Ben's suspension of 4 games for never being arrested and being a bad tipper apparently somehow warranted a larger suspension than killing dogs and being convicted of a crime and sent to jail. But somehow many instances of run in's with the law that involved arrests and gunplay like Cedric Benson and Rolando McClain warrant basically no punishment? James makes a football play on a running QB and he is suspended 1 game less that SUH, who maliciously and intentionally stomps on a lineman, after slammming his head into the ground 3 times, trying to do serious damage to his arm, literally an assault! The fact that Goodell has something personal against the Steelers is obvious and unacceptable! I applaud the way Tomlin handled it in his press conference. He owned up to it being a penalty, but also defended how hard James had been working on trying to avoid playing "outside" the new NFL rules. He is a true professional! My biggest problem with this whole thing is that the Steelers players, in this case Harrison, have been treated differently than all others in the league when it comes to Goodell's policies and there needs to be a new system of checks and balances to avoid personal vendettas in the future! I believe Roger saw this as a way to deal a serious blow to the Steelers Super Bowl chances and he gladly took advantage of it. Sad and wrong!

 

I find it funny that JH gets called for everything, but they never call H2H, on the field, when Hines gets knocked out from H2H... it's happened two seasons in a row...

 

This whole game is becoming so microscopic and nit picky of what is a foul/penalty/fine/suspension. Like John Gruden said every play is susceptable to review. They should just run one play at a time. Stop. Send the film to NY for review. Let them make the call. Determine if and or what disipline should becarried out and then run the next play. Sure games would be about 7 and a half hours long but in the end it is the product that Roger wants to ultimately put out there.
If Roger wants a completely injury free sport perhaps he should look into being the Commisioner of the PGA instead.

 

Nah, too much knee-tweaking and rotator cuff injuries. Gooddell would have body scanners on the tee to gauge whether a player is swinging too hard. Otherwise penalty. Can't have those PGA'ers hurting themselves.

 

This is so rediculous and frustrating. 2 years in a row now Goddell has handed out unprecedented suspensions to Steeler players...First Ben for not being charged with any crime and now Harrison for a play on the field. Ben couldve not put himself in that situation and James couldve avoided a heltmet to helmet hit, but that is unimportant.
The important thing is how can anyone argue that Goddell does not have it out for us and isn't intent on making an example of the NFL's greatest franchise while leaving other more severe offenses by other team's players go?
Why won't anyone but us fans stand up? Come on media (mostly Steeler haters though), or Players Union, or even the Rooneys (I know they can't but it would be huge if Dan or Art disputed Goddell publicly)!!

 

It is unimportant that Harrison could have avoided the H2H hit... after being warned (fined) 5 times?!?!? Really??

What good is it going to do for anyoen to defend Harrison publically? Nothing they say in the media is going to make a difference. The only thing it could actually do is piss the NFL off.

I'm sure Harrison's appeal has already been decided before it has even been heard and he is going to have to change if he wants to keep playing this game.

 

Well,I know what Roger is getting for Christmas, a box of Summers eve since he's such a D-BAG.We should all send him a box !

 

I've been wondering that for a while

 

So... How is Silverback supposed to "adjust" his tackling technique?!?
In his own words, any player in the league, would rather be hit high, than low.
Not necessarily, in the head, but...
What if he (out of vengence, like I would be tempted to), starts blowing out knees?
Or Ribs?
Backs?
Ankles?
Point being, if I was him, I would be tempted to make an example out of the next few players, how much worse he could hurt them, by "avoiding the head"...
Darn shame for the next unlucky few to have their careers ended...
But he would be playing "within the rules"...
I don`t know that I would go to that extreme. It`s not the other players` fault that Goodell is an idiot...
But..
A part of me damn sure wouldn`t blame him for making the point...
They would just outlaw that next season, though, right?
Ridiculous!!!

 

Yep!

 

No, that is not true. We all talked suspension the very next day. We knew this was going to happen. James knew this was going to happen.

 

Here's one I altered. Feel free to use it. It took all I had not to use really foul language! :lol:

 

Personally as a HS Coach and as a fan who Loves the game ,,,,I think this is BS.......With that said I do believe the rules will loosen up in a few,,,,,the league is going hard to protect themselfs from lawsuits......

All I have to say about that is Football is a dangerous game that requires committment and the willingness to get hurt,,,only the strong survive ,,,,and that is the way it is suppossed to be,,,imo.........

With all this out of the way the NFL is trying to give an Offensive player another advantage.....Guys are taught to keep their head up and plant their face mask between the #'s then slide their head to the ball to try and cause a fumble,,,this is why you try to teach RB'S to switch the ball.....

I could make an epic post,,,but I won't if these are the rules to protect QB'S then a running QB or a RB actinc as QB is now in order to take advantage of this current BS rule..........A guy at the QB spot now gets the advantage because he can lower and lead with his helment and if a defender does the same their will probably be a 15 yard flag and a auto 1st down.....

If I was Coaching in the NFL under these rules I would run a Wild Cat or have a running QB in on every short yardage play and on every GL possesion.......You know have 3 huge advantages as now the D can not hit you head on and the D must pick a side of the body to tackle givivng you a half a man to beat,,,,,Maybe is why Cam and Tebow are showing s successful? Anyway.......The last is you have 2 ways to get the 1st. down or the TD either by gaining the necessary yardage or making the Ref throw the flag for a big hit......

Even if the Ref misses the flag the NFL will punish the offenders and take them out of future games......If done correctly you can change the way a D plays and gain a huge advantage on that paly or in that game or for future games......