In the past, Steelers linebacker James Harrison has complained that not enough holding penalties are called against the blockers who try to keep him away from their quarterbacks.
Now, Harrison is being accused of doing too much to influence the throwing of flags.
Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer recently reported that Browns left tackle Joe Thomas believes Harrison “flopped” to draw a holding call in each of the two games that Cleveland played against Pittsburgh.
“It’s something James Harrison has been doing,” Thomas told Grossi. “It seems like he didn’t do it last year. Now he’s kind of perfected it. When you push him by the quarterback, if he doesn’t think he can get to the quarterback anymore, he thinks the best thing for him to do is kind of flop as dramatically as possible and hope it baits the ref into throwing the flag.
“Basically as you push him by, he’ll just throw his arms up in the air and his feet and try to make it look like you threw him down. It’s kind of like taking a charge in the NBA.”
But now that the word is out, it remains to be seen whether the move continues to work for Harrison.
“It was my mistake for not talking to the refs before the game because it shows up on tape over and over again,” Thomas said. “I don’t know if he has a reputation yet, but I know after this year he will.”
Maybe next year Harrison’s new move will be stopping short.