James Harrison: Should Pittsburgh Steelers Cut Ties with the Controversial LB?

James Harrison's recent comments on Roger Goodell in the August issue of Men's Journal aren't surprising (he called him a "crook," the "devil," a "puppet," and a "dictator"). 

Everyone knows Harrison has a burning hate for Goodell. However, the most shocking comments he made were about his own quarterback. Here's an excerpt from the interview Men's Journal had with James Harrison:

"

On the two interceptions thrown by Ben Roethlisberger in last year’s Super Bowl:

“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.”

"

This is a bold statement. As far as everyone is concerned, James Harrison had just one tackle in the Super Bowl, so it's not as if the Steelers' defense did much bailing out regardless of field position.

What Harrison says is shocking, because he's essentially thrown his quarterback under a bus, a la Terrell Owens.

With that said, James Harrison probably ruffled some feathers within the Steelers' organization, and Art Rooney can't be too happy with Harrison's constant popping off at the mouth.

But should the Steelers consider severing ties with the loud-mouthed Harrison?

As much as it pains me to say it, yes, and almost immediately.

As it is, the Steelers' image isn't squeaky clean at the moment—Hines Ward was just busted for DUI, Rashard Mendenhall seemingly defended Osama bin Laden on twitter, and Ben Roethlisberger was coming off a sexual assault allegation nearly a year ago. James Harrison has only worsened the average NFL fans' perception of the always-hard-working Pittsburgh Steelers.

At this point, he's done more harm than good.

Harrison isn't a positive influence in the locker room if he's threatening to retire because the rules the NFL has set are being enforced, or if he's bashing his quarterback for doing poorly against one of the most aggressive defenses in the NFL.

The Steelers' organization cannot take much more of this—the Steelers must be growing weary of the constant negative attention they're receiving, which has mostly overshadowed their Super Bowl appearance in 2011. And, it's not like Harrison is going to stop anytime soon, because he just doesn't work that way.

The possibility of moving him isn't farfetched, either. Harrison is already 33 years old anyway, and though he's coming off his best season as a pro, there's no guarantee that he'll play as well as he did with added pressure to perform to back up his talk.

James Harrison needs to clean up his act, not for himself, but for his teammates and the Steelers' organization. 

If he doesn't (which is almost certainly the route Harrison will take)? The Steelers might want to strongly consider unloading the burden of his mouth on someone else.