James Harrison: "I don't care if I hurt players"

[stevestojan]

Interesting choice of words after this weekend.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/14149970/harrison-after-head-hits-i-dont-care-if-i-hurt-players

 

He tries to rationalize it with:

 

"I don't want to injure anybody," Harrison said following Pittsburgh's 28-10 victory. "There's a big difference between being hurt and being injured. You get hurt, you shake it off and come back the next series or the next game. I try to hurt people."

[boyst]

"I don't want to injure anybody," Harrison said following Pittsburgh's 28-10 victory. "There's a big difference between being hurt and being injured. You get hurt, you shake it off and come back the next series or the next game. I try to hurt people."

While I understand his thoughts it does not mean that they are correct. Athletes are trained warriors in some regards, the best of these "warriors" go pro. The best warrior doesn't always have to outsmart the other, he can simply be that much more brutal.

I do not know if I can quite put it in to words but I will try. Our society is a lot like the movie Idiocracy. We want to see the worst things we can see, we want to chastise those who do it and than we want to imagine ourselves a superior. There is no longer 15 minutes of fame, there is 5 minutes. In the internet generation the clock ticks instantly. Whether you're Snooki or you're Harrison seeking fame is best done through shock. The Harrison brand is now much greater, everyone is talking about him, Meriweather, and all those other cheap shots. He just promoted his brand that much higher and like it or not he will be rewarded for this behavior with a contract extension.

Belichick, like him or not, is respected around the league and should suspend Meriweather for the season. Craft and Belichick, however, work perfectly together to spin every dilema. Their version of good cop/bad cop will let this be brushed under the carpet. While Belichek condones the action publicly, along with Craft, they will reward Meriweather with playing time, money, and probably an extension.

When someone is suspended for this there will be a :censored:storm. It will instantly become a finger pointing issue and it will drown out the important part - deliberately hurting an athlete is not good sportsmanship.

 

Disclaimer: I was a dirty player for a while in my athletic career and look back on it as pointless. The things I did, not neccessarily cheapshots, were uncalled for and unfair.

[John from Riverside]

As a former player myself I can relate to this....

 

Regarding the helmet to helmet hits. The reason WHY it is stupid to lead with your helmet is you are going to injure yourself while you are trying to lay that BOOM lick trying to decleat a player and dislodge the ball.

 

This is why you are taught to hit and wrap from pop warner to high school to college......laying that big hit leaves the opportunity for a player to bounce off....keep their balance and keep going. Learning to wrap like a spider ends the play, you still have an opportunity to create a turnover. It does not as flashy....but you are a lot less likely to be injured yourself.

 

Learn how to tackle for christ sake.

[NaPolian8693]

As a former player myself I can relate to this....

 

Regarding the helmet to helmet hits. The reason WHY it is stupid to lead with your helmet is you are going to injure yourself while you are trying to lay that BOOM lick trying to decleat a player and dislodge the ball.

 

This is why you are taught to hit and wrap from pop warner to high school to college......laying that big hit leaves the opportunity for a player to bounce off....keep their balance and keep going. Learning to wrap like a spider ends the play, you still have an opportunity to create a turnover. It does not as flashy....but you are a lot less likely to be injured yourself.

 

Learn how to tackle for christ sake.

 

Do you think NFL players and coaches don't realize this?

 

It you knock someone out of the game, you get praised by your teammates and coaches. Mike Ditka said tonight that knocking a player out of the game was a "feather in your cap" for a player. It's the way it has always been.

[Punch]

Do you think NFL players and coaches don't realize this?

 

It you knock someone out of the game, you get praised by your teammates and coaches. Mike Ditka said tonight that knocking a player out of the game was a "feather in your cap" for a player. It's the way it has always been.

 

What are the most enduring images in pro football--- Chuck Bednarik standing over an unconscious (and probably concussed) Frank Gifford, Mike Stratton popping Keith Lincoln, etc. It's always been celebrated in highlight film after highlight film and it's really disingenuous of the league to blame the players. A lot of money has been made off of those images for the league.

[Meathead]

just like the nhl is trying to make players responsible for the outcome of their hits, so should the nfl

 

hit as hard as you can - without injuring someone. catastrophic hits that risk serious injury due to sheer brutality should be included

 

is that very different than the historic cultures of those sports? yes, yes it is

[Punch]

just like the nhl is trying to make players responsible for the outcome of their hits, so should the nfl

 

hit as hard as you can - without injuring someone. catastrophic hits that risk serious injury due to sheer brutality should be included

 

is that very different than the historic cultures of those sports? yes, yes it is

 

I think the NFL should protect it's players, no question--- but it's safe to say Chuck Bednarik probably didn't hit Gifford cleanly. Gifford was almost definitely concussed, and the lasting image of that collision is Bednarik standing over the unconscious Gifford, taunting him. The story has been been retold countless times for no other reason than to glorify the idea of knocking your opponent the !@#$ out. We're not talking about clean legal hits here (legal at the time, yes). Harrison's comments sound uncannily like Chuck Bednarik's, to say otherwise is being dishonest or willfully misinformed.

 

There are any number of hits that would be deemed illegal and unnecessarily violent in today's game that have been repeatedly celebrated by the NFL over the years. It's definitely disingenuous of the league to continue to profit off of that image. If they really want to curb the violent hits to the head they should probably stop glorifying the equally "dirty" (upon reflection) hits of the past. Which, of course, is nearly impossible. It's not an easy fix.

[John from Riverside]

Do you think NFL players and coaches don't realize this?

 

It you knock someone out of the game, you get praised by your teammates and coaches. Mike Ditka said tonight that knocking a player out of the game was a "feather in your cap" for a player. It's the way it has always been.

 

Of course....but your longevity as a player will be longer if you are not using your helmet as a weapon. The problem is the players are getting bigger, faster, and stronger......

 

I GUARANTEE you that coaches want their players to tackle and not use helmets and forearm shivers because sometimes the players DONT GO DOWN. Give me a defense filled with good tacklers who know their assignments and wont allow big plays by going for the highlight hit. I will show you a defense that is consistantly going to be good.

[Chalkie Gerzowski]

Give me 20 Chuck Bednariks, 15 Jack Tatums and 10 Chuck Cecils.

 

[akm0404]

I GUARANTEE you that coaches want their players to tackle and not use helmets and forearm shivers because sometimes the players DONT GO DOWN.

Desean Jackson, Todd Heap, and Mohammed Massaquoi went down. Teams are happy to risk a broken tackle for the chance to play against a scrub replacement for the rest of the game. The players try to injure each other on every single play. They will twist and torque and do whatever it takes to get the other guy out of the game.

 

It is a feather in the cap for players to injure another player. Don't pretend that isn't true.

[DarthICE]

Desean Jackson, Todd Heap, and Mohammed Massaquoi went down. Teams are happy to risk a broken tackle for the chance to play against a scrub replacement for the rest of the game. The players try to injure each other on every single play. They will twist and torque and do whatever it takes to get the other guy out of the game.

 

It is a feather in the cap for players to injure another player. Don't pretend that isn't true.

 

 

And now their stupid asses will lose a ton of money over it. I am all for hard hitting, CLEAN football. This crap this last weekend was cheap, dirty and intentional and I hope the NFL sits every one of them. Has the NFL gone too far in some cases, YES, but not with this stupid crap. I bet this **** would end if the player doing the hitting was forced to be out at least as long as the injured player without pay.

 

Give me 20 Chuck Bednariks, 15 Jack Tatums and 10 Chuck Cecils.

 

 

 

So you want a team penalized about 25x per game for minus 200+ yards which guarantee no wins.

[BUFFALOKIE]

And now their stupid asses will lose a ton of money over it. I am all for hard hitting, CLEAN football. This crap this last weekend was cheap, dirty and intentional and I hope the NFL sits every one of them. Has the NFL gone too far in some cases, YES, but not with this stupid crap. I bet this **** would end if the player doing the hitting was forced to be out at least as long as the injured player without pay.

 

 

 

 

So you want a team penalized about 25x per game for minus 200+ yards which guarantee no wins.

 

Great idea! I think you have proposed a perfectly fair solution. Also make them sit out at least one play for unsportsmanlike conduct. I love big hits, but I would rather watch a defender with good technique instead of just a hard head.

Edited October 19, 2010 by Buffalokie

[Another Point of View]

This kind of player in Buffalo would hurt our image as a caring City of Good Neighbors

[Chalkie Gerzowski]

And now their stupid asses will lose a ton of money over it. I am all for hard hitting, CLEAN football. This crap this last weekend was cheap, dirty and intentional and I hope the NFL sits every one of them. Has the NFL gone too far in some cases, YES, but not with this stupid crap. I bet this **** would end if the player doing the hitting was forced to be out at least as long as the injured player without pay.

 

 

 

 

So you want a team penalized about 25x per game for minus 200+ yards which guarantee no wins.

 

Yeah, I want all the penalties... every play... I want the ambulance to show up and cart off all 40+ players on the other side of the field, including the coaching staff and possibly the opposing team's owner.

[Original Byrd Man]

And now their stupid asses will lose a ton of money over it. I am all for hard hitting, CLEAN football. This crap this last weekend was cheap, dirty and intentional and I hope the NFL sits every one of them. Has the NFL gone too far in some cases, YES, but not with this stupid crap. I bet this **** would end if the player doing the hitting was forced to be out at least as long as the injured player without pay.

 

 

 

 

So you want a team penalized about 25x per game for minus 200+ yards which guarantee no wins.

The fines are a joke. Rodney Harrison stated on air that he set aside $50K before the start of the season to cover his fines. That's a drop in the bucket. Make it count with a lenghty suspension instead. I suggest the offending player several games to make a real impact. Same goes for Hockey. Hits to the head need to stop now. I'm all for physicality but the intent to injure has gone overboard.

[BuffOrange]

This is the same guy who complained that the only reason he was invited to the White House was because they run the Super Bowl. What do you expect? Not the brightest bulb.

[papazoid]

follow the MONEY !!!.....the headline says "safety"....the real issue is the LIABILITY costs in the form of insurance premiums, extra funding for retired players health (just added ALS coverage), loss of marque players(seat revenue) and future lawsuits.

 

i'm all for eliminating the most egregious head hits.......like the one by New Englands Merriweather on Todd Heap. but the league has a problem like the dunta robinson hit on deasean jackson....he led with his shoulder into his chest.....the helmet to helmet was secondary.

 

what's next....wait for the receiver to take a step or two after catching the ball before ya hit em?

 

how many runners lead with their head down while running ??....thats the most likely first contact.

 

this is going to be a mess if it gets ticky tacky.

[DreReed83]

Interesting choice of words after this weekend.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/14149970/harrison-after-head-hits-i-dont-care-if-i-hurt-players

 

He tries to rationalize it with:

 

"I don't want to injure anybody," Harrison said following Pittsburgh's 28-10 victory. "There's a big difference between being hurt and being injured. You get hurt, you shake it off and come back the next series or the next game. I try to hurt people."

 

I disagree with a lot of the rules that Goodell has changed or enforced but he did a great job with this one. James Harrison for one is a complete moron...if you need a reason, just look at his reasoning for not going to the White House after the Steelers SB win. The dude is retarded.

[bartshan-83]

If I'm understanding Harrison correctly, then I have no problem with what he said.

 

There IS a difference between trying to injure someone badly (illegal cut blocking, diving at ankles, being named "Vince Wilfork") and trying to hit someone so that they can't/don't want to get back up.

 

There is nothing wrong a with a good clean hit that makes a guy writhe on the turf and miss a few series or the rest of the game. That's football.

 

That being said, I don't think helmet-to-helmet collisions of any sort should be tolerated in the NFL. Some pundit I heard this morning summed it up well by saying that a helmet is there for protection; it's not a weapon. Unfortunately, it's construction makes for a great weapon and too many players are using it as such.

 

So while I agree with Harrison's sentiment (and think people demonizing him are wrong), I think the kind of hits he levied this week should be illegal. If they ARE banned and he still thinks they are okay, then that is a different problem.

[Beerball]

follow the MONEY !!!.....the headline says "safety"....the real issue is the LIABILITY costs in the form of insurance premiums, extra funding for retired players health (just added ALS coverage), loss of marque players(seat revenue) and future lawsuits.

 

i'm all for eliminating the most egregious head hits.......like the one by New Englands Merriweather on Todd Heap. but the league has a problem like the dunta robinson hit on deasean jackson....he led with his shoulder into his chest.....the helmet to helmet was secondary.

 

what's next....wait for the receiver to take a step or two after catching the ball before ya hit em?

 

how many runners lead with their head down while running ??....thats the most likely first contact.

 

this is going to be a mess if it gets ticky tacky.

IMO the hit on Heap as well as the 2 Harrison hits were bad. Player leading with the crown of the helmet, not seeing what they are hitting, no attempt to wrap up the player (a human missle)...the penalties will be called during the game and I expect we'll see a rise in them because of the publicity, but not to a huge degree. Some will be bad calls just like today, some will be justified (we'll scream at the TV at several calls against the Bills). The suspensions will be handed out after the fact with plenty of video review. I'm OK with this.

 

D-ICE had a good thought...suspend the player until the injured one gets back on the field. (that's open to abuse, but unlikely)