James Harrison Comments: Could There Be Repercussions from Pittsburgh Steelers?

The lockout and the lack of news during the 2011 NFL offseason has caused any and every news bite to be magnified times 100.

Thus, when the outspoken media target James Harrison unleashed holy hell in comments to Men's Journal magazine, he really put himself in the spotlight—for better or worse.

He's not the first to publicly rip the New England Patriots. He's far from the first to publicly rip NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Neither of those should come as a huge surprise, as he has launched a verbal onslaught on both for years.

Where his comments go from 0 to 60 are with his remarks about his quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. Harrison holds no punches in his commentary on Roethlisberger's Super Bowl XLV performance, pointing out the pair of picks thrown by the franchise signal caller.

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"Hey, at least throw a pick on their side of the field instead of asking the D to bail you out again. Or hand the ball off and stop trying to act like Peyton Manning. You ain’t that and you know it, man; you just get paid like he does."

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This wasn't the extent of his teammate-bashing comments. He also described running back Rashard Mendenhall as a "fumble machine" due in part to his costly fumble in that Super Bowl loss.

For one, I will call into question the accuracy of his dubbing of Mendenhall as a fumble machine, as he has only fumbled five times in the regular season in his three-year career, and once in the postseason.

That fumble may have come in the biggest game of the season, but it's not as though he coughed it up to some slouch. The man who forced the fumble was none other than Clay Matthews, one of the candidates for the 2010 Defensive Player of the Year award.

Beyond that, one has to wonder if these comments will draw the ire of Steelers owners Dan and Art Rooney. The Rooneys take a lot of pride in the reputation of their team and don't take kindly to players that threaten to besmirch that reputation.

Santonio Holmes was shown the door just over a year ago for his violation of the league's personal conduct policy and subsequent four-game suspension. Fox Sports' Adam Schein read comments by Art Rooney II on Sirius XM NFL Radio Wednesday afternoon, stating that Rooney had not yet read the article, but that it was a matter the team would address after the lockout.

Uh-oh.

While Harrison's comments probably won't draw a suspension (unless Goodell is looking to violate the freedom of speech every American is entitled to), the negative PR firestorm could be enough to push the Rooneys over the edge.

Everyone is anxious for the lockout to be over. One person who may not be, though, is Harrison. He could be feeling the repercussions of not only his teammates, but the Pittsburgh Steelers' front office, as well.