Steelers Players Not Happy About Rule Changes

The Steelers seemed to be the target of the new NFL rules that were put in effect on Tuesday. Some of the team came out last night and commented on the rule changes, including LaMarr Woodley.

The NFL’s new proposal to punish teams for their players’ multiple flagrant hits that result in fines has been nicknamed by some in the league as the “Steelers rule,” not surprisingly, some of the hardest hitters on Pittsburgh’s defense took to social media to blast the league’s new initiative. The punishment will be financial, although league vice president Adolpho Birch said Tuesday he didn’t rule out commissioner Roger Goodell applying further sanctions, such as stripping clubs of draft choices, also Tuesday, owners approved rules amendments for player safety, targeting launching and further defining what qualifies as a defenseless player.

Birch would not identify which 2010 teams would have been subject to fines had the policy been in place then, but did say at least three teams might have been punished, one player, Pittsburgh All-Pro linebacker James Harrison, was fined $100,000 for flagrant hits last season. “We’ll check the number of fines and the level of fines going out for infractions that relate to various player safety violations,” Birch said. “Particularly head and helmet issues.” Harrison expressed his displeasure on his Twitter account Tuesday. “I’m absolutely sure now after this last rule change that the people making the rules at the NFL are idiots,” Harrison said. Teammate LaMarr Woodley also spoke out through his Twitter account. “Thoughts on “the steelers rule”??? lol im sorry that im not sorry we hit 2 hard,” he wrote.