James Harrison: Thug Life

[Next Year]

Steelers linebacker James Harrison became the poster boy for the NFL’s crackdown on hits to the head of defenseless players last year, and after multiple fines and a suspension, Harrison says he got the message.
Unfortunately for the Steelers’ opponents, that message isn’t necessarily one that’s going to make them any safer. Harrison said on Mike and Mike in the Morning that now instead of trying to hit players in the head, he’ll hit them in the knees.
“I’ve really lowered my target area to where it’s down around the knees,” Harrison said. “Situations come along where you could tackle the guy high. I don’t do that anymore. I tackle the guy low.”

Harrison said, however, that he doesn’t think that makes life any easier on opposing players. Harrison referenced his hit to the knee of Broncos receiver Eric Decker in last year’s playoffs, a hit that caused Decker to suffer a sprained MCL, as the kind of hit he makes now that he wouldn’t have made before he was suspended last season — and a hit that Harrison doesn’t think makes the game any safer.

“I could have tackled him high, but if I had hit him high, I probably would have gotten a helmet-to-helmet or something and gotten fined,” Harrison said. “So I hit him low and strained his MCL. . . . They’re saying it’s a life-threatening injury to hit a guy in the head and he gets a concussion and so on and so forth, but I think a life-threatening injury is to go low on a guy and blow out his ACL or whatever, and he’s not able to come back the way he was before. Now he can’t make a living, he can’t feed his family, he can’t do what he does. That’s life-threatening to me.”

Head or Knees.

James Harrison is there no other option?





Harrison is either playing the idiot to make a point (there is no completely safe way to play the game) or he is an idiot that wants to end players' careers.

[uscfreek88]

hes trying to make a point and a good one at that

[Next Year]

Originally Posted by uscfreek88

hes trying to make a point and a good one at that

But a knee injury is career-threatening.

Head injuries can be life-threatening.

There is a difference.

I agree with Harison that football cannot be made completely safe.

These rules are why we have seen some of these qb records fall.

I don't agree with him going after other players to prove his point when the NFL has pressure on it to make the game "safer"

The head and neck are not in play.

But there is still at least four feet of body to target for textbook wrapup tackles.

[uscfreek88]

i think part of his point is that alot of times defenders do target the body but then the ball carrier ducks low to try and run through the tackle and there is helmet to helmet contact and whos fault is it? the defenders.....its impossible to avoid all helmet to helmet contact when ppl are moving that fast and make split second decisions

i also dont think he is targeting a player's knees but more so below the belt....now of days guys can lay a shoulder into a WR and make a perfectly good hit but b/c of the way it looks the guy is flagged and/or fined

like the hit Reggie Nelson had on Dez Bryant when they played a few weeks ago

[Steeler7588]

Yeah, you definitely missed his point. Of course he can target the torso - but that's what he did against Massaquoi. When the WR lowers their head, the area you thought you were going to hit when you launched yourself suddenly isn't there anymore. Flag, penalty, fine.

If he goes for their legs/knees, he doesn't have to worry about getting fined, but it's not "safe" by any means.

Plus, it's not like all hits have the same window for your textbook wrap-up tackle. That's the problem with these new penalties - there's so much variance in any given tackle, yet refs are kinda forced to use final endpoints ("oh my god, their helmets touched!!! FLAG!!!") when they don't always apply. I think targeting defenseless receivers should be penalized because it discourages certain behaviors in a specific context, but some of the other stuff just leads to really inconsistent rulings and certain players end up unfairly targeted with flags.

Roger Goodell sucks.

[Flameout12]

You keep posting snippets...but no link.

[GamecockSuperFan]

That would totally suck to be anywhere near James Harrison on a football field..

[Lalli25]

The only point he is making is that he has awful fundamentals. He ignores that he refuses to use his chest and run through tackles rather than launch his body like a missile at people. This rant is stupid and doesn't prove anything about how hard it is to not target the head. The problem is these guys have no respect for their opponents bodies as well as their own. It is one thing to try to knock the hell out of someone but another to target areas to hurt them. That is what he is doing. He is saying he will target a different spot that is very vulnerable.

Football needs, at the lowest level on up, to have proper tackling taught. Too many coaches teach their players to launch their body through the air and dive at the kids legs or head. They also teach using the top of the shoulder pad, which leads to shoulder injuries, rather than using the chest plate. Also ESPN has ruined fundamental in all sports because their highlights are always driven by non fundamental plays. Kids want to immitate those plays and hits and sure enough their tackling becomes just launch themselves at knees, ankles or heads.

[5lbYardcock]

Keep your face up and hit the guy, even if helmet to helmet it will not affect either. That is the safest for both. Ducking your head and going into a player is unsafe for both players and its been said and done over and over.

My Brother is a saftey engineer for Schutt and they do research on this all the time. He said, take helmets and make them from styrofoam with no face mask and you will see plenty of self preservation and safety in football.

[FloydTheBarber]

The OP assumes the players Harrison is tackling are standing upright. Players are taught to run into contact with their shoulders lowered, pretty much with their torso parallel to the ground. In such a scenario, there really are only two options; helmet-to-helmet or the lower body.

[GamecockUltimate]

Atleast he is honest. These comments here might get him ostracized by fans and GM's and league officials, but they will cause change, and concern and i think the players understand where he is coming from and also will agree with him, they just don't have the balls to say it.

[Lalli25]

Originally Posted by FloydTheBarber

The OP assumes the players Harrison is tackling are standing upright. Players are taught to run into contact with their shoulders lowered, pretty much with their torso parallel to the ground. In such a scenario, there really are only two options; helmet-to-helmet or the lower body.

First, Harrison himself was talking about plays where he could either go high or low, so that means there must be a middle area to hit.

“Situations come along where you could tackle the guy high. I don’t do that anymore. I tackle the guy low.”

Secondly, the tackles you are talking about are not getting fined for helmet to helmet. If a player has the ball and is running in a way that you described, it is not a defenseless player situation, therefore helmet to helmet doesn't apply.

Third, too many guys launch themselves at the head of WR to break up passes, since they figure that is the most consistent way to break up a catch. It is taught by some dirty coaches, to hit the guy high in the head. Players used to aim for the ribs, cut, back and such areas where they'd jar the ball loose, but not knock him out cold.

[I Bleed Garnet]

I wonder how much coaches pay him to hurt players.

[ReadR00ster]

I guess there is option of softly grabbing and putting a pillow under the guy's head as you gently lay the man on the turf. COME ON! It's freaking football! I am SICK of everyone WHINING about players getting hurt. That is what they are getting paid millions for. When you have to make a tackle you hit what you can. Sometimes you have to dive just to hit ANY part of some one. I am sick this garbage. James Harrison is absolutely right and he is the target of witch hunt. That is all there is too it. Targeting knees is perfectly legal. There is nothing wrong with tackling players by the legs. Everyone who has a problem with that should stop watching football. Everyone is acting like James Harrison walks around everyday leaving a wake of dead and broken bodies behind him. BS. He isn't being targeted because he is a dangerous player. He is being targeted because he talked back to the NFL commissioner because of the ridiculous fining and suspending he all of sudden decided to do, because said commissioner lost the stomache for job.