Does anyone give a fuck about the ridiculous fines

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

Goodell is laying upon the league?

I've seen the hits the three dudes took this weekend. I thought Meriweather's repeated attempts to take out Heap warranted a fine and/or suspension. However, Harrison's and Robinson's hits were just your standard "jacked up" type of plays. They were actually attempting to separate the man from the ball.

Meriweather twice went after Heap's head. One time after the play was over. That punk bitch needs to sit. He said on the radio today he wasn't going to change his style of play. That's twice this year's he's been unapologetic after costing his team penalties/yards/plays. There's a difference between being aggressive (like Harrison) and taking unnecessary risks.

Anyways. I understand the league wants to protect its players. However, this is what happens when the players are so much faster and stronger than before. Despite its repeated attempts to legislate otherwise, the game is actually more violent than when "we were kids."

[Screw_Michigan]

You are more than correct on Meriweather. But I feel the biggest factor, other than bigger and faster players, is better helmets. Guys almost feel invincible out there. It's almost time to go back to leather helmets. Obviously I'm just kidding, but better helmets is a huge factor.

You can't legislate the violence out of the game, but the league must crackdown on helmet to helmet hits at any means necessary.

[BSmack]

Fucking Harrison will be so broke by season end he'll need to moonlight as one of Ben's rape stoppers

Maybe Harrison can ask for a cut of what the NFL is making from selling pictures of the hit they fined him 75k for making.

http://www.replayphotos.com/nflphotosto ... 321187.cfm

Here's the PFT story.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... legal-hit/

I'm guessing they'll fall all over themselves ripping the pic down tomorrow morning, but the reality is that from the days of "The Violent World of Sam Huff," to present times, the NFL has marketed the hell out of the violence inherent to the game.

[poptart]

Merriweather should be fined and/or suspended for sure.

The Harrison hit on Cribbs might be defensible, since Cribbs was a ball-carrier and Harrison may not have been attempting to go head-to-head on him, but the fact that it was a head shot will almost surely mean he's fined for it.

The Harrison hit on Massaquoi was worse.
Mass had lost the ball (although you could make a case that Harrison didn't have time to realize it) and the shot was up at his head.
He's gonna get fined.
He could possibly be suspended.

I think I would fine him for the hit on Massaquoi if I was commish.
Might be inclined to let the Cribbs hit slide.

Robinson's hit was just an "unfortunate" reality of modern football.
Big, strong, fast players sometimes have very violent collisions.
I did not see the shot as illegal at all.


S_M is right about the leather helmets, even if he is joking.

[R-Jack]

Chuck Cecil would be out of football with these type of rules.

But monday night, there he was..........coaching the enitre defense.

The helmet angle is nails. I say no fines or suspensions. Just switch to the old school one bar punter helmet if you get caught headhunting.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

The Harrison hit on Cribbs might be defensible, since Cribbs was a ball-carrier and Harrison may not have been attempting to go head-to-head on him, but the fact that it was a head shot will almost surely mean he's fined for it.

The Harrison hit on Massaquoi was worse.
Mass had lost the ball (although you could make a case that Harrison didn't have time to realize it) and the shot was up at his head.
He's gonna get fined.
He could possibly be suspended.

It looks like he hit Cribbs around the shoulder pads to me.

If Massaquoi hadn't been juggling the ball... and had caught the ball cleanly and turned upfield, Harrison would have hit him in the chest. Is Harrison supposed to pull up and wait for Massaquoi to catch a well thrown ball, or should he just assume dude's going to catch it cleanly and try to separate him from the ball? For some bitch who thinks Jack Tatum wasn't the dirtiest fucking scumbag to ever play the game, you sure are talking out of both sides of your vagina here, pussy.

[poptart]

Harrison's hit on Cribbs was clearly head-to-head.
Shoulder pads??
lol
No.

On the Mass hit, Harrison went for a head shot.
It's well known that when you do that these days you're gonna end up lighter in the wallet.
Oh well.

[Screw_Michigan]

Just switch to the old school one bar punter helmet if you get caught headhunting.

Great take. Totally agree.

[mvscal]

Forget the fines. They don't hurt millionaires.

Sit the offender out as many games as the dude he hurt misses...if it's deemed an illegal hit.

That was Rodney Harrison's take on it. He said he never paid any attention to fines. The only thing that ever got his attention was the suspension.

Meriweather should have been ejected and should have been suspended for his blatant cheap shot.

[BSmack]

On the Cribbs hit, Cribbs was dropping his pads as he was shielded by one of his linemen. When he comes out the other side he's a foot lower than he was going in. WTF is Harrison supposed to do? Politely ask him to fall to the ground?

On the Massaquoi hit, there was no penalty on Harrison either. That flag the announcers got so worked up about was thrown on the Browns for delay of game because their center kicked the ball. Why you say? Because that was a legal attempt to tackle a man.

Seriously, if you want to legislate EVERY single instance of head to head contact out of the game, then you would have to make ground rules for runners that mandate they all run like Eric Dickerson. Harrison was just doing his job and attempting to make clean hits that were not head high or at the knees. I can't blame him because in both instances the runner/receiver chose to lower his pads at the last second, thus bringing his dome into peril.

Also, if you want to fine defensive players, then have a go at the offensive players like Adrian Person who lower their head and use it as a weapon as well. Pretty soon you'll have legislated all of the hits out of the game.

PS: The Merriweather hit was a whole different story. That was a blatant cheap shot.

[poptart]

Harrison was just doing his job and attempting to make clean hits that were not head high or at the knees.

I agree that you can make a solid case for the Cribbs shot being legit, but I have no idea how you can type with a straight face that Harrison was not trying to put a head shot on Mass.

But oh well.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

Meriweather should have been ejected and should have been suspended for his blatant cheap shot.

His worst "act" of the day was standing over Mason after nailing him after a 20 yard completion like he's all bad ass or something. What a fucking moron. The other team just gained 20 yards on you but you're patting yourself on the back because you had a nice hit. Perhaps you should have been in position to break up the pass instead. I fucking hate Meriweather. Die.

[indyfrisco]

Jesus Christ....has a Steeler ever done anything wrong in your many (shitty) opinions on the matter?

Harrison was headhunting on the Mass his. Cribbs hit, well, Cribbs was the runner. I'm ok with H2H hits when someone is running up the field.

[BSmack]

Harrison was just doing his job and attempting to make clean hits that were not head high or at the knees.

I agree that you can make a solid case for the Cribbs shot being legit, but I have no idea how you can type with a straight face that Harrison was not trying to put a head shot on Mass.

I was ready to agree with you until I ran the game video back on my DVR. When Massaquoi first catches the ball, Harrison is 5 yards away on the 50 and closing. Harrison closes two steps while Massaquoi is still in the act of catching the ball. After the second step, Harrison drops his pad level and begins to brace for impact. At the same moment, Massaquoi steps upfield a yard and lowers HIS pad level as well. Harrison continues towards Massaquoi and at impact extends his SHOULDER, NOT HIS HEAD into Massaquoi. It was only after this initial shoulder to shoulder contact that the two players contacted each other with their helmets.

This all happened so quick that Lawrence Timmons was still running parallel to Massaquoi at the moment Harrison impacted Massaquoi. He hadn't even had time to react to the catch that happened RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. The only reason Harrison was able to react was because he was reading McCoy as McCoy threw the ball and followed the ball.

Oh, and zero props to the TV announcers for NEVER doing what I just did with the replay footage. In fact, they never showed the sideline camera footage at slow motion period. They used the backfield camera and only showed down the moment of impact. Fuck them.

EDIT: I just watched some NFL All Access video where they claim that Harrison "launched" himself into Massaquoi. I suppose by an absolutely strict interpretation of the rules one could say that Harrison launched himself into Massaquoi because as he made impact one of his feet did briefly leave the ground. But to say that it was a "dirty" hit is absolute bullshit.

[mvscal]

OK. Well.....bye.

James Harrison threatens to retire because of dirty hit sanction
By Chris Chase

One day after getting fined $75,000 for an illegal hit, James Harrison(notes) is threatening to quit football because he says he doesn't know if he'll be able to adjust his game to new NFL rules.

"I'm going to sit down and have a serious conversation with my coach and see if I can actually play by NFL rules and still be effective," he said. "If not, I may have to give up playing football."

This shows pretty clearly what a clueless, classless, knuckledragging sack of shit that stupid nog really is.

Do it. Quit, you fucking bitch.

[BSmack]

As predicted, the NFL couldn't rip those pictures down fast enough. But only after media members began pointing out the naked hypocrisy of a league fining players for "illegal hits" and subsequently attempting to profit from said hits.

[poptart]

Had to laff at this line from the yahoo article on Harrison's fine.

The Dunta Robinsons of the world can complain. James Harrison's type of play hasn't been allowed since Deacon Jones prowled the secondary.





http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdo ... nfl-278575

[BSmack]

Had to laff at this line from the yahoo article on Harrison's fine.

The Dunta Robinsons of the world can complain. James Harrison's type of play hasn't been allowed since Deacon Jones prowled the secondary.



http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdo ... nfl-278575

You should have seen noted Defensive Lineman Jack Tatum. Man he used to rock players with that head slap.

[mvscal]

You should have seen noted Defensive Lineman Jack Tatum. Man he used to rock players with that head neck slap snap.

FTFY

[BSmack]

You should have seen noted Defensive Lineman Jack Tatum. Man he used to rock players with that head neck slap snap.

FTFY

Obviously you are confusing Defensive Lineman Jack Tatum with Free Safety Rosie Greer.

[OCmike]

What the league needs to stop is the free shots defenders have been taking against receivers that tip balls, miss balls or just plain don't make the catch. Many times the ball is gone for a full second or two and dbs and linebackers are still fully unloading on receivers. I'm not saying a guy can stop when running full-on at a sprint and it's a bang/bang play. You can't fight physics. I'm talking about plays where a receiver clearly doesn't have the ball and guys are still blowing them up.

Guys are too fast and strong these days to allow that shit to continue.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

Had to laff at this line from the yahoo article on Harrison's fine.

The Dunta Robinsons of the world can complain. James Harrison's type of play hasn't been allowed since Deacon Jones prowled the secondary.





http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdo ... nfl-278575

It's a blog. Not a "real" article. Just another moron with a keyboard who doesn't know jack shit about true journalism and composing a well written piece.

What do you expect?

[poptart]

S_M is right about the leather helmets, even if he is joking.

Joe Paterno and Mike Ditka speak on behalf of modifying the head gear.


"I have been saying (it) for 15 years. Then, you would get back to shoulder blocking and shoulder tackling and you wouldn't have all those heroes out there. Guys (would) have to worry about broken noses, knocked-out teeth, which we would like to prevent, but you don't get anything for nothing. We used to have one single bar; now we have a weapon."

- Joe Paterno




"I said a long time ago if you want to change the game take the mask off the helmet. It will change the game a lot. If you want to change the game and get it back to where people aren't striking with the head and using the head as a weapon, take the mask off the helmet. A lot of pretty boys aren't going to stick their face in there."

- Mike Ditka

[Screw_Michigan]

But but but, those guys are pussies! They're part of a media conspiracy!

Sin,

Fatspray and his 300 pound cunt

[BSmack]

It's a blog. Not a "real" article. Just another moron with a keyboard who doesn't know jack shit about true journalism and composing a well written piece. What do you expect?

Yahoo is a multi-billion dollar entity. I would expect them to hire folks to blog about the NFL who at least know something about the history of the game.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

Bloggers, for the most part, are bottom feeders. Why would you expect "NFL history buffs" when you're paying bottom of the barrel wages? I would expect most of these fucking idiots to be young punks more familair with fantasy football and Madden 2010 than real NFL shit.

[Goober McTuber]

It's a blog. Not a "real" article. Just another moron with a keyboard who doesn't know jack shit about true journalism and composing a well written piece. What do you expect?

Yahoo is a multi-billion dollar entity. I would expect them to hire folks to blog about the NFL who at least know something about the history of the game.

If that were the case, I might expect them to be hiring names you could recognize. Just curious, what are Chris Chase's credentials? I couldn't find anything on him.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

Just curious, what are Chris Chase's credentials? I couldn't find anything on him.

From what I can gather, he knows how to spell "dude" and watches football from time to time. That's about it.

[mvscal]

I never really went helmet to helmet on somebody,

So what is your point then? Some of these assholes are going helmet to helmet and they are doing with the intention of causing injury.

[Mikey]

You're going to have fuckers getting suspended for brushing up against WR's.

Brushing up against WRs is OK as long as you don't grab their junk.

Unless, of course, you're in KC.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

In KC, fighting for loose balls takes on a whole new meaning.

Refs flag players for unsportsmanlike conduct for NOT grabbing junk at the bottom of a pile.

[R-Jack]

I can remember several hits I was involved with where I was going to plant my head in stomach, and the RB fell forward tripping over my bucket of chicken. Result - head to head - hard head to head.

Fixed for accuracy.

[poptart]

Harrison & certainly Robinson should get a pass. They were doing what they've been taught since they started - knock the fucking shit out of somebody if they get in your territory.

Robinson was fined $50,000, which I think is an injustice.
As I saw it, he just laid the wood like he's supposed to.

If the league doesn't want Jackson to get hit that way then they better fine him for running across the middle to catch a pass while not paying attention to the fact that someone might be waiting to knock the pee out of him.

You can't fine guys for making good plays, I'm sorry.


I agree with Merriweather and Harrison being fined.

[Screw_Michigan]

I can remember several hits I was involved with where I was going to plant my head in stomach, and the RB brought his head down too. Result - head to head - hard head to head.

Yeah, they teach you not to do that in Pop Warner, idiot. Too bad you didn't come up on the business end of fractured vertebrae.

[BSmack]

I can remember several hits I was involved with where I was going to plant my head in stomach...

I saw a kid break his neck trying to tackle that way. It happened right in front of me at football practice. He was damn lucky he only suffered a hairline fracture and "only" had to spend the next 6 months in a body cast and halo.

[Screw_Michigan]

I can remember several hits I was involved with where I was going to plant my head in stomach...

I saw a kid break his next trying to tackle that way. It happened right in front of me at football practice. He was damn lucky he only suffered a hairline fracture and "only" had to spend the next 6 months in a body cast and halo.

Thank you very much.

[mvscal]

I can remember several hits I was involved with where I was going to plant my head in stomach...

I saw a kid break his next trying to tackle that way. It happened right in front of me at football practice. He was damn lucky he only suffered a hairline fracture and "only" had to spend the next 6 months in a body cast and halo.

Never saw that but our coaches definitely drilled that danger into us. I'm not sure how they teach kids to tackle in Georgia but, in Texas, the mantra was, "head up, wrap up and drive through the ball carrier."

Sure sometimes the ball carrier drives through you but at least you won't break your neck.

[BSmack]

I can remember several hits I was involved with where I was going to plant my head in stomach...

I saw a kid break his next trying to tackle that way. It happened right in front of me at football practice. He was damn lucky he only suffered a hairline fracture and "only" had to spend the next 6 months in a body cast and halo.

Thank you very much.

Good job. Maybe you can elevate from jizzmopper to proofreader after all.

[BSmack]

Never saw that but our coaches definitely drilled that danger into us. I'm not sure how they teach kids to tackle in Georgia but, in Texas, the mantra was, "head up, wrap up and drive through the ball carrier."

Sure sometimes the ball carrier drives through you but at least you won't break your neck.

That's exactly what our coaches taught us. Use the legs to drive through and see what you hit. The kid who broke his neck was a 5'7" 150 lbs JV player trying to tackle our star fullback who checked in at 6'2" 220 lbs and had just signed a letter of intent to play for Colgate. Normally when the JV kids faced him running in the open field, they gave him the ole treatment and let him run or they would try to get low and would get trampled but would live to fight another day. This kid decided he wanted to be a practice hero and stuck the crown of his head right into the other guy's chest. The result was that he got shot backwards like he was blasted out of a cannon. I was waiting to rotate in on O-line and therefore got a bird's eye view of it from the sideline.

[Mace]

I can remember several hits I was involved with where I was going to plant my head in stomach...

I saw a kid break his next trying to tackle that way. It happened right in front of me at football practice. He was damn lucky he only suffered a hairline fracture and "only" had to spend the next 6 months in a body cast and halo.

Never saw that but our coaches definitely drilled that danger into us. I'm not sure how they teach kids to tackle in Georgia but, in Texas, the mantra was, "head up, wrap up and drive through the ball carrier."

Sure sometimes the ball carrier drives through you but at least you won't break your neck.

Bingo! That's how you're supposed to tackle.

My freshman year in college, I saw a kid make a tackle leading with his head into the back of a TE. Result was that he snapped his neck and has spent the last 40 years in a wheelchair....and it was his own fault.

The current helmets are awesome pieces of protection for the players compared to the helmets worn when I played but, unfortunately, they are so good that players feel safe in using them as the tip of a missile when they launch their head-to-head hits. The NFL needs to enforce the rules that have been on the books for years and penalize with the only thing that players listen to...suspensions. They can change the culture of the game but it will not happen overnight. They aren't going back to leather helmets or removing the facemask because of liability issues. Helmet manufacturers routinely get sued now, so you can imagine what would happen if they reduced the safety of helmets. The only answer is to strictly enforce the rules as written and wait for the players to realize it's not worth taking the kill shots.

I heard one player being interviewed who described players as "gladiators". This just in, you stupid fuck, you're athletes playing a fucking game....you're not a gladiator entering the arena fighting for your life. Or at least you shouldn't be. That's why football has rules.