James Harrison Suspension: Rooting For 'The Bad Guy'

I’ve heard this on occasion, and i respectfully disagree.

lets say that the players do not duck. harrison’s helmet is still collarbone-high, and still directly to the opponent’s vital region (heart/head). a proper tackle attempts to stop the other player- meaning their helmet should be somewhere closer to the core of the opponent’s body. my other argument is that harrison does not use either his shoulders or arms. If his goal was to take down the carrier, you should see more of a 2 step tacke: contact and wrap-up.

i agree with all else you’ve said. i don’t think he’s dirty, but he’s definitely not using his brain. he shows a clear disregard for team defense. niner’s defense practices turnovers every thursday, and all players on the team view it as a team stat. if harrison’s hits are intended to dislodge the ball, you should see more of a punching motion in his arms and more of an effort to hold up a player while help arrives to the scene of the tackle.

as a one-time DPOY, i am wholly surprised by his lack of discipline in fundamental tackling and team defense.

With Harrison, I agree that he’s being singled out. And, I would not call him dirty in the sense that Suh has been called it, ie, fines after the whistle, trying to twist-cap QB’s heads off, etc.

But whether it’s “not being a very intelligent player” or not, it IS troubling that he hasn’t adjusted his style of play given how publicly this has gone on. It is also troubling that he IS being singled out, and that the league is definitely applying their alleged interest in “player safety” selectively, and somewhat hypocritically, particularly with regard to the helmet issue (That is, their choice to use ones from Riddell that are LESS safe, rather than paying more, but protecting players better.)

You know that it burns Roger that he’s constantly being criticized by Harrison.

That said, he hasn’t adjusted his tackling like others have and that’s why he is being hit with a lot of fines.

As for other players, I think there’s a slight difference in that we are now seeing the “defenseless receiver” call; which is totally bogus. I think there are a lot more calls for that where as Harrison’s previous fines were not blindside hits, but he just leads with the crown and makes contact with another players helmet. The “defenseless receiver” cals now prevent the defense from stopping completions in which they would otherwise be able to hit and dislodge the ball.

I haven’t watched the Steelers closely this year, but in the past, as in two previous years, he didn’t exactly display that he cared much about attempting to play within the new rules; going as far as saying he would rather retire than change the way he tackles.

Also, I watched this particular hit in both full speed and slo mo, and he has no excuse for lowering his head. If he had kept his head up, he likely could have deflected the pass over his head. No reason to lower his eyes to make that hit.

On the one hand, the Niners chances go up due to that, but on the other, we want it to be two good teams going at it, no excuses for either side after.

Also, as I am going to the game, I wanted to see several of those dudes in person.

Either way, still totally excited about it.

I don’t get that. Whether Baltimore wins or loses on Sunday, there are still 2 more games, in which a lot of seedings could be affected by wins or losses. I don’t think the Steelers will say, well let’s play for the 6th seed wildcard instead of getting a bye and a home game. Unless I ma missing the point of your post, I can’t see the logic.

haha

I didnt know thats what expedite meant…

but he was still behind the LOS scrambling from other pressure. This wasn’t exactly a Tebow-designed run play and he did pull the ball out to pass while Harrison still had his eyes up.

why do you people keep saying “crown of the helmet” At least watch the play man, don’t just spew that b.s It was face mask to face mask.

Fat rapist deserves it.

Heck, he gets even less calls than John Friggin Skelton…like i mentioned above, pretty much the same exact play happened to both QB’s, except Skelton gets a 15 yard penalty called for him and a TD off of it, and Smith gets nada

Whether you like it or not, those are the rules, and Harrison clearly violated it.

Those rules are there for a purpose. It sucks a lot to lose a QB during the season. There is no need to “punish” QBs in this manner. It is bad for the game. It is a fine game without any extra violence.

If some spice is needed – go the hockey route, just let the guys to punch it out ofter a whistle and sit out the next series. And you would not be punching it out with the skill guys. (Though there are guys like Crowe..)