The Steelers’ James Harrison has been fined $75,000 for his hit on the Browns’ Mohamed Massaquoi. He maintains his innocence, however, claiming that the hit on Massaquoi was legal:
“It was a legal hit,’’ Harrison maintained in an interview today with the Post-Gazette, as did Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.
“All you have to do is look at the tape,” Harrison said.
He said he was not aiming for Massaquoi’s head and actually tried to pull off of him. He believes he’s being targeted because of media opinion against him.
“If I get fined it’s because anybody out there who has a camera in their face or a pen in their hand is writing their opinion and it’s all the same. I just happened to be one of the bigger names who hit somebody last weekend.”
The NFL also handed out fines for $50,000 each to Dunta Robinson of the Falcons and Brandon Meriweather of the Patriots for big hits of their own.
I’m not sure Harrison got extra attention because he’s a big-name player, but I do think these kinds of rough hits are on people’s minds right now due to what happened in the Rutgers game this weekend.
