Anyone think Harrison gets off without a fine?

[DukieBoy]

I am guessing James gets suspended 2 games, and fined $75K, nonw of which is deserved because McCoy was out of the pocket and running the football until James left his coverage and came to tackle him, and McCoy lowered his head just before the contact. James did not leave his feet, and made a normal solid clean football play.

[Mel Blount's G]

What pappy said

Goodell has been ruining my favorite game since he got his job

[Steelerphile]

I think it will be $40,000.00 at least. It reminded me a little bit of the Massaquio hit last season. He got flagged this time. I think they will say Harrison lead with the helmet instead of the shoulder. I know how difficult it is to detach the head from the rest of the body and only hit players in a particular place without any helmet contact. The way Goodell and his administration are giving out fines, they don't have any sympathy.

I think huge fines should be confined to clearly intentional infractions. There are so few of those and they are judgement calls also.

[Keyplay1]

By the time this play is reviewed by the "League Office" it will probably be lost in the shuffle. Here are some rulings from a past week. This was from Week 4.

Total through Week 3: 19 fines, $235,000.
Zebra Blog fine meter
$ 3 6 0, 0 0 0
FINES 2 8 SUSP 0

* Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour, $7,500 for unnecessary roughness and $7,500 for facemask foul.
* Patriots safety Patrick Chung, $7,500 for unnecessary roughness.
* Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, $15,000 for leading with helmet on a tackle. The hit resulted in a fumble returned for a touchdown, which should have been nullified by penalty.
* Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey, $7,500 for unnecessary roughness.
* 49ers tackle Anthony Davis, $25,000, two leg whip penalties.
* Bears safety Brandon Meriweather, $20,000 for a helmet-to-helmet hit (as a repeat offender).
* Eagles defensive end Jason Babin, $15,000 for a hit to the quarterback’s neck.
* Redskins special teamer Niles Paul, $20,000 for hit on a defenseless receiver.

This week: 9 fines, $125,000

Miami Dolphins S Tyrone Culver fined $20k for hit against Buffalo Bills
by Ben Volin

Culver, a fifth-year veteran who is making $700,000 this year, was fined $20,000 for striking a defenseless player in the head and neck area, according to a league spokesman. The fine for most unnecessary roughness penalties is $15,000 – safety Yeremiah Bell has been fined that amount two different times this year – but the league office determined that Culver’s hit was especially egregious.

Incidentally, the Commissioner has nothing to do with these rulings. There was a huge thread on this stuff recently and that was made clear. Nonetheless he does seem to get all the credit for these rulings by the "League Office" which has been around for many many years long before this new guys tenure. But here is what some fans think anyhow. These comments were from some Miami fans.

"goodell and this nfl need to make these stupid fines because it is there form of bonus’s. out of the 20,000.00 culver was fined, goodell just got a 15,000.00 christmas bonus. its all about money, and this extra revenue they get from fining these players is just they’re form of getting bonuses. goodell you crook, looks like christmas came early for you, you dam crook."

"This is BS, tyrone doesn’t make enough money where those fines dont affect him hes not a starter or anything thats a big 20,000 comming out of his paycheck, and he led with his shoulder and the receiver had enough time to duck his head. Fxxk you goodell your a moron."

These were some of the milder fan responses. As far as the Commish goes he might not even be aware of these rulings. He probably has more important things to take care of like maybe get out on the street selling Troy Polamalu, Ben Roethlisberger and James Harrison jerseys. Stuff like that.

[Discipline of Steel]

By the time this play is reviewed by the "League Office" it will probably be lost in the shuffle. Here are some rulings from a past week. This was from Week 4.

Total through Week 3: 19 fines, $235,000.
Zebra Blog fine meter
$ 3 6 0, 0 0 0
FINES 2 8 SUSP 0

* Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour, $7,500 for unnecessary roughness and $7,500 for facemask foul.
* Patriots safety Patrick Chung, $7,500 for unnecessary roughness.
* Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, $15,000 for leading with helmet on a tackle. The hit resulted in a fumble returned for a touchdown, which should have been nullified by penalty.

* Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey, $7,500 for unnecessary roughness.
* 49ers tackle Anthony Davis, $25,000, two leg whip penalties.
* Bears safety Brandon Meriweather, $20,000 for a helmet-to-helmet hit (as a repeat offender).
* Eagles defensive end Jason Babin, $15,000 for a hit to the quarterback’s neck.
* Redskins special teamer Niles Paul, $20,000 for hit on a defenseless receiver.

This week: 9 fines, $125,000

Miami Dolphins S Tyrone Culver fined $20k for hit against Buffalo Bills
by Ben Volin

Culver, a fifth-year veteran who is making $700,000 this year, was fined $20,000 for striking a defenseless player in the head and neck area, according to a league spokesman. The fine for most unnecessary roughness penalties is $15,000 – safety Yeremiah Bell has been fined that amount two different times this year – but the league office determined that Culver’s hit was especially egregious.

Incidentally, the Commissioner has nothing to do with these rulings. There was a huge thread on this stuff recently and that was made clear. Nonetheless he does seem to get all the credit for these rulings by the "League Office" which has been around for many many years long before this new guys tenure. But here is what some fans think anyhow. These comments were from some Miami fans.

"goodell and this nfl need to make these stupid fines because it is there form of bonus’s. out of the 20,000.00 culver was fined, goodell just got a 15,000.00 christmas bonus. its all about money, and this extra revenue they get from fining these players is just they’re form of getting bonuses. goodell you crook, looks like christmas came early for you, you dam crook."

"This is BS, tyrone doesn’t make enough money where those fines dont affect him hes not a starter or anything thats a big 20,000 comming out of his paycheck, and he led with his shoulder and the receiver had enough time to duck his head. Fxxk you goodell your a moron."

These were some of the milder fan responses. As far as the Commish goes he might not even be aware of these rulings. He probably has more important things to take care of like maybe get out on the street selling Troy Polamalu, Ben Roethlisberger and James Harrison jerseys. Stuff like that.

Bullcrap. No Goodell is the architect of the new NFL.

[DukieBoy]

Tunch on the radio brought up what I thought was a very reasonable point: "There's no helmet-to-helmet when tackling a RB - no longer a QB, and McCoy was a RB (scrambling, "out of the pocket"). So Harrison had every right to do a HTH." ((paraphrasing)

What do you guys think?

If "out of the pocket" does not matter in James' hit on McCoy, then by that standard, "out of the pocket should not matter when Paxson went low on the legs when he took out Ben. What's more, Ben was still a passer in that case, still looking to throw, whereas McCoy looked like a runner, pulling up to pass at the last second when he saw James was about to sack him, and then lowering his body (and head) to absorb James' hit.

James will be fined, big, and I think he will be suspended for at least one game, amybe two. Paxson will get nothing, of course. Goodell and Co. have painted themselves into a corner with regard to James. They have vilified him and made him a poster child for a problem that is much bigger than any one player. Their only choice to overdisciplining James is to destroy their "credibility" on this issue and and as a whole (not that they have much credibility left).

[Keyplay1]

Discipline of Steel said "Bullcrap. No Goodell is the architect of the new NFL."

I tend to agree with that. But, in regards to all these rulings and fines those are done by the NFL Director of Football Operations Office.

Gerry Dulac wrote an article last year when the Steelers were getting all those fines and he pointed out who was involved. Certainly, Goodell has to be factored in there somehow.

But the facts were that those defenseless player rules were around in the 90's and some of the fines and disciplines then were really big. But, the Steelers were not directly affected then. And why not, since the Steelers have always been at the forefront in clean play and competing within the rules.

[Keyplay1]

I think it will be $40,000.00 at least. It reminded me a little bit of the Massaquio hit last season. He got flagged this time. I think they will say Harrison lead with the helmet instead of the shoulder. I know how difficult it is to detach the head from the rest of the body and only hit players in a particular place without any helmet contact. The way Goodell and his administration are giving out fines, they don't have any sympathy.

I think huge fines should be confined to clearly intentional infractions. There are so few of those and they are judgement calls also.

When the flag was thrown I thought McCoy was being penalized for crossing the Line of Scrimmage. After watching the replay it looked like the helmet contact was incidental. But like you mentioned, the way they have gone nuts handing out these fines JHar will probably not slip by. And then this will be yet another marginal call on him.

I'm now wondering if James Farrior will be fined for brushing McCoy out of bounds. It looked like he was screened by Harrison and got caught trying to avoid JHar when he clearly unintentionally bumped into McCoy. This is a case then of a player with a nearly perfectly clean long time record and reputation as an above the line rule abiding player getting stained by the leagues new nut-case fine policy.

[snarky]

I'm sure if Goodell could fine James Harrison for getting off, he would.

[feltdizz]

He will be fined and suspended....