With $125,000 in league-imposed fines for unnecessary roughness and $100,000 of them already upheld by the former coaches (Art Shell and Ted Cottrell) hired jointly by the league and the NFLPA, Steelers linebacker James Harrison refuses to accept the fact that the hits for which he has been fined are illegal hits.
“It angers me, of course, that they’re taking absurd amounts of money from me for plays that I consider to be clean and legal hits,” Harrison said Wednesday, per the Associated Press. “I’m sure if you asked 10 guys in the league, nine of them would say he’s not a dirty player. He’s a hard player. He’s just getting a bad [reputation] right now.”
The root of the problem? No one close to Harrison has the ability, the motivation, and/or the nerve to speak to him truthfully and candidly. A defenseless player (e.g., a receiver in the act of catching a pass and a quarterback in the act of throwing a pass) can’t be hit in the head or with the head. It’s that simple.
For his most recent $25,000 fine, Harrison put his helmet into the chest of Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. It doesn’t matter that Harrison didn’t hit Fitzpatrick in the head. Harrison led with his helmet. It’s an illegal hit. Ditto for the $20,000 fine imposed after Harrison put his helmet into the back of Saints quarterback Drew Brees. And a pro athlete who continues to make illegal hits fairly will be labeled, eventually, a dirty player.
Ironically, Harrison has a teammate in Troy Polamalu who could simply pull him aside and say, “Look at what I did to Terrell Owens. I hit him with my shoulder in the midsection. That’s all you have to do. Quit dipping and leading with your helmet.”
Harrison also has a head coach who could -- and should -- do the same thing, instead of harming his own credibility by publicly bemoaning the ability of Harrison to send his kids to college when a sliver of his $50 million contract has been involuntarily donated to former players who can’t afford to pay their hospital bills.
Former Buccaneers and Colts coach Tony Dungy thinks that the message will be delivered to and received by Harrison only after he receives a suspension.
“It’s natural for coaches to defense their players,” Dungy told PFT on Thursday morning, “but coaches like Mike Tomlin would be quicker to try to change technique if it meant players missing games. He doesn’t want his players losing money but the team can’t afford for them to miss time. That’s when you’ll see coaches change their thinking.”
Tomlin and the other Steelers, in our view, are willing to publicly support Harrison because they don’t want him to change the way he plays. Only when the league makes clear that Harrison must change the way he plays by preventing him from playing will change ever happen.
Until then, Harrison will keeping doing what he does.
“I’m not playing dirty,” Harrison said. “I’m not doing anything that’s outside the lines. . . . There’s nothing malicious or illegal about the way I’m playing or I’m tackling guys, so I’m going to continue to play the way I’m playing.”
Eventually, he won’t be playing at all, either because the NFL won’t let him play or because Harrison will decide he doesn’t want to play. Or both.