The illegal-hits issue that dominated Steelers-related coverage early this season came back in a big way in James Harrison’s appearance at media day on Tuesday. Harrison was sarcastic in reaction to the NFL’s treatment of him earlier this season:
Like I said, I don’t want to hurt nobody, I don’t want to step on nobody’s foot or hurt their toe, I don’t want to have no dirt or none of this rubber on this field flying today and make their eye hurt. I just want to tackle them softly on the ground and if y’all can, we’ll lay a pillow down where I’m gonna tackle them, so they don’t hit the ground too hard, Mr. Goodell.
Hopefully this illegal-hits issue can fade into the background now. While it’s true that blows to the head are a serious issue, the NFL’s method of handling it basically was to pick on Harrison a lot. He’s absolutely justified in taking some (verbal!) shots at the league.
Here’s the video: