The Silverback, Steelers linebacker James Harrison, boarded a flight and flew to New York to meet with NFL commish Rog Goodell on Tuesday. He was accompanied by Steelers Director of Football Operations Kevin Colbert. They were meeting to discuss league policy pertaining to hits etc. according to the Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac.
Bill Parise, Harrisons agent, described the meeting as “As an exchange of ideas and an opportunity for both sides to learn and grow.”
Hmmm…sounds an awful lot like James is feeling some unwanted extra eyes on him. In Mike Tomlins press conference on Tuesday Mike was asked if he thought James was being unfairly targeted by the league. Of course Mike said no. No head coach wants to get into the middle of something as distracting as this.
And rumors are abounding out there as to the possibility of Harrison incurring another fine on the late hit he got flagged for in New Orleans when he ran down Drew Brees from behind. When I watched in real time from the sidelines as James hit Drew, my first thought was “That’s gonna cost him.” Not because I thought it was a cheap hit, not because I thought it was an illegal hit, but because of who did the hitting. If it was Lamar Woodley, it wouldn’t even have crossed my mind that Lamar might get a fine.
But if I’m James Harrison, I do think that the league is unfairly targeting me. I get fined $75,000 for a hit that wasn’t even flagged while someone who was flagged gets hit for $25,000 less! I get the letter from Ray Anderson, I know my head coach got a letter red-flagging me as a multiple offender, I see me hitting Massaquoi on the video sent out to all 32 teams, I get the att’a boy message from VP Ray after the game when I don’t light anybody up. And now there’s rumors floating about that I could get hit with another NFL-charities-bound donation.
Yeah, if I’m James Harrison I’m pretty upset and before I end up playing the game for free due to being asked to donate every time I whack somebody, I’d want clarification on just what the heck constitutes a fineable hit.
James Harrison has a beef, and I think sitting in with the commish is neccessary because I think the dude is being targeted.
And I don’t even need to wrap my head in aluminum foil to see this one coming.
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