While based on the uniform, you can’t like Terrell Suggs, you can respect him and agree with his comments. Suggs was the conference call for the Pittsburgh media Wednesday, and says that he feels (like all Steeler fans) that James Harrison is being unfairly targeted by the league.
“Your guy over there, No. 92 (Harrison), I think he is red-flagged,” Suggs said. “The referees are kind of looking for him. Even if he breathes on a quarterback wrong, he might get a flag. … I think they are looking at him more closely than they are everybody else in the league.”
It will be interesting to see if the refs turn their attention to the Ravens based on those comments, or if Harrison continues to be the refs target Sunday night.
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DrGeorge
December 2, 2010 at 11:12 am
Roger Goodell and the NFL have a problem when ordinary fans, bitter rivals like Suggs, and former players and commentators on the NFL Network and ESPN (Tom Jackson, Trent Dilfer, Rod Woodson)and many sportswriters state publicly that some, if not all, of the fines levied against Harrison were unjustified and that it appears Harrison is being targeted. Under traditional football rules, the hits Harrison made look legal; under the ex posto facto rules of the league office (“I’ll let you know after I review the tape”) the same hits are now illegal, especially when made by Harrison.
Today’s news is that Ryan Clark, the Steelers’ player rep, is taking the action I recommended earlier — appealing the discriminatory treatment of Harrison to the union and seeking formal redress. As Woodson argued, if the hits made by Harrison are now deemed unsafe, they should be outlawed for all players under all circumstances anywhere on the field. That is the way a general safety issue should be handled — as a clear and universal rule change.
Using Harrison as a whipping boy is a very bad idea — especially when a labor grievance or lawsuit could be filed and league documents, e-mails, and instructions to referees subpoenaed that might tend to prove the truth of the allegations or that might be characterized as an unfair labor practice. NFL management doesn’t need to be defending such allegations at this time. Whether true or not, it appears to many people that Roger Goodell has required or encouraged referees (by his after the fact review of plays and the disciplining of refs for no-calls) to treat Harrison unequally and has altered in mid-season the standard rules on tackling, for which selected aggressive defenders are being fined by a league office that serves as both judge and jury. That wide-spread perception of unfairness (a) harms the game by suggesting that the NFL is willing to affect the outcome of games through the referees, and (b)creates hostility between players and management in the face of the upcoming NFLPA contract negotiations.
League owners should be asking how any of this advances the present or future interests of the NFL.
George H
December 2, 2010 at 1:18 pm
The only problem Doc is that the league officials and reps dont believe they are in the wrong. They honestly believe that Harrison is a dirty player and can alter his game. The league is clearly using the quick penalties as a defense mechanism to support their player safety, so that they can justify moving to an 18-game schedule.
I find it completely and utterly unfair that opposing teams can rough up Ben and not get flagged. The hypocritical behavior that the league has portrayed is nauseating. A change has to happen
chris
December 2, 2010 at 7:24 pm
heres a great idea that would never work .. have the steelers and ravens coaches agree to decline any “leading with the helmet” calls against each other. that would show unity amongst the players against the bs calls.