All right, you can take off the aluminum foil and duct tape for now. The conspiracy that i thought was percolating a mere 24 hours ago is not the conspiracy that i thought conspired yesterday.
How do i know Chris Chester was simply trying to even the score with James Harrison and now can see my way to saying this was no conspiracy to injure James from a higher authority?
Simple, just listen to James Harrison’s own words when he describes how he ran over Chester on a pass rush both before and after Chester’s drive block attempt on an extra point and you understand why the attempted “hit” occurred.
Chester got his butt embarrassed, that’s why. For an offensive lineman there is no greater “Diss” than getting your butt run over and having a look at the night sky while you are lounging on your back. I remember the call from the booth during the game when Tunch laid out how Chester got creamed by James on a twist stunt. James ran over Chester like a speed bump.
Chester lost his cool and took a cheap shot at Harrison. I didn’t realize this until i talked with Tunch today. Again, i can’t throw no stones. You can’t criminalize verbally to friends out there like all of those who are kind enough to read this what you wouldn’t do (or have done) yourself in a bad moment. No excuses, it is what it is.
Having said all this, i guess if you pull the rip cord on a attempted assassination, then you should have to Baretta it and “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”
What bothered me was the 5-yard off-sides penalty. Kicking it from the seven instead of the two.
Big woo. There is no doubt that Chester tried to put a hurting on Harrison in retribution and i’ve got no doubt in my mind that James put a hurting on Chester the second time to exact the aforementioned “frontier justice” from a previous piece. But the officials overlooking the obvious shot at Harrison diminished the intent behind the shot at Harrison.
Firing out on an extra point is “ver boten.” If you fire out you create gaps. Gaps that defensive dudes run through and block kicks. But the sustained effort on the part of Chester to continue the drive block even when James stepped back while he was noticing all the other non-activity of the other players is what i’m talking about. And believe me when i say Chester is not one of the guys that i would point to and say that he blocks “until the echo of the whistle” on a regular basis.
No, I retract my previous conspiracy theories and simply say that this whole diatribe about conspiracy is simply due to a guy getting his butt waxed by a better man. Chester tried to even the score with James after getting trucked and James upped the ante when he ran over Chester for the second time. Stinks to be you Chris Chester. One of the life lessons of the NFL. Been there, done that.
Unfortunately for Chester, he didn’t have the opportunity to try to do the same thing to James when the Steelers took the lead, and i got a feeling that at this point it would have been a bad move on his part.