The focus of the sports world this week was on the NFL’s offense against hits by defenseless players. There were many of these hits this past weekend. There seemed to be more than usual, but I would like to see some league numbers.
Everyone seemed to have an opinion on this blatant crackdown, including Cleveland Browns Center Alex Mack. I’m sorry that your team is so bad that you have to say that Harrison is taking cheap shots at your teammates throughout the game. It’s called soccer. Win 5+ games some year and we’ll think to hear from you. He also forgot to mention that his defenseless and talentless teammates are holding Harrison down at every opportunity and the refs won’t call him on one play because they would have to on most other plays as well. So that makes any Cleveland Browns argument moot.
James Harrison, Brandon Merriweather and Dunta Robinson were some of the highest-profile players fined last Sunday. Harrison, the defensive player of the year 2 years ago for punches like the ones he dished out last Sunday, is now the villain for those same punches. A Pittsburgh radio station made a slightly embarrassing point to the No Fun League this week when they discovered that the NFL was selling footage of Massaquoi’s success on a website. Mr. Harrison, you are hereby fined and required to give us $75,000 and by the way, we will also make thousands of dollars more by selling that image on our website. The NFL abruptly removed the image from the site. oops! Is it possible that James Harrison will fine the NFL? Probably not.
When the NFL came up with the new rule before the season that you couldn’t hit the defenseless receiver, this raised a huge red flag for me as a Steelers fan. I was watching a tribute to Jack Lambert on YouTube. Put those words in the YouTube search engine and you will find it. It’s amazing. I laugh with laughter every time Lambert’s body slams Cliff Harris to the ground. My point is that this is the personality of the Steelers. If you think of the Pittsburgh Steelers, you think of Defense and Steel Curtain and all the players over the years who have created that personality; Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, MEAN Joe Greene, Greg Lloyd, Rod Woodson, James Harrison and Ryan Clark. I know, I left out a lot of names, but these are just a few that came to mind. These guys are the identity of the Steelers. This team is known for defense and hard hitting. If you take that, you’re taking away the identity of the Steelers. This is really what I thought and feared would happen when the league proposed another penalty to protect the offensive player.
After the first few weeks of this season, I thought maybe these new rules wouldn’t affect the game as much. Give the offenses another breather, let the receivers catch the ball and step them up before planting them on the ground. That was before last week and the James Harrison show. Harrison isn’t the only player to get these types of hits. I can think of 2 Ryan Clark hits, one on Willis McGahee and one on Wes Welker that probably would have gotten some attention if these rules had been in place. Maybe the NFL should focus a little more on finding teams that protect their investment and their players. Maybe you could upgrade your helmets to provide more protection. Or is your helmet company paying you too much money?
This is Tackle Soccer, not Flag Soccer. Before long, the NFL may change its name to NFFL. Unfortunately, that would mean the end of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They may play in the NFFL, but their identity is the NFL. No, Mr. Rooney would disband the team rather than let them embarrass themselves to that point.