Steelers players are understandably not fired up about James Harrison’s suspension, but most of them didn’t say too much on the topic. For a good reason.
Safety Troy Polamalu said that coach Mike Tomlin told the team to “just to say no comment.”
So Polamalu was asked anyway and his response was predictable: “No comment.”
Either Polamalu was looking for a way to avoid the topic or a few players ignored Tomlin’s edict, according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Cornerback Ike Taylor: “Man, they’re tripping. I don’t know what it is. [Harrison’s] getting it handed to him in the NFL way . . . He didn’t stomp on nobody, he didn’t punch nobody’s private area.”
Safety Ryan Clark said he felt like he could be suspended at any time: “There are no set rules, no clarification on what will get you suspended or what will get you fined a certain amount. It’s really all let up to judgment.”
Polamalu didn’t address Harrison directly, but he had the most telling quote of this entire ordeal.
“I don’t think any football player is going to go out there and change the way they’re playing. I think it’s too late in our lives to really do that,” Polamalu said. “Of course, we’re professional athletes and we try our best to adjust, but it’s tough.”