James Harrison's $75,000 Fine for Helmet Hit on Mohammed Massaqoui Not Enough

Fellow Dawgs,   

By now, the dust has cleared from the Browns 28-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the smoky embers of the violent hits that Steelers LB, James Harrison laid on Joshua Cribbs and WR Mohammed Massaquoi have lit a fire under the NFL in terms of taking action for personal safety.

Unfortunately, the punishment didn't fit the crime.  

The NFL fined Steelers LB, James Harrison, $75,000 for his illegal hit on Mohammed Massaquoi. The league also noted Harrison is a repeat offender, as he was fined $5,000 for unnecessary roughness in Pittsburgh's win over Tennessee on Sept. 19.

Football operations chief Ray Anderson indicated the suspensions could start immediately—that is, involving play from last weekend's games and that players will be fined and suspended for "devastating hits", specifically "head shots" the NFL decided that Harrison's hit on Joshua Cribbs was legal since he was a ball carrier in the field of play,

NFLPA President Kevin Mawae spoke on ESPN's Dan Goettlieb Show podcast and thinks that suspending players for hard hits is a knee-jerk reaction.

Mawae also would go on to state that the rule will be impossible to enforce and unless it's helmet-to-helmet and that the NFLPA will fight it. 

Don't get me wrong here, I'm over the 28-10 loss, and I will acknowledge that the Steelers had the better team on the field this past Sunday. But in regards to future player safety and determent, the $75,000 fine is nothing more than a drop in the bucket.   

I have watched football for over 30 years and know every rule inside and out, but I have never seen such an eregious and blown enforcement of the rules in a field of play than what I saw on Sunday.   

It is clear in the NFL Rulebook that if a player leads with his helmet in a attempt to tackle and possibly hinder a player, that rule is called and known as "spearing" which is what should have been called on Harrison when he struck Cribbs, but what Harrison did to Massaquoi since he was "defenseless" in my opinion warrants a $100,000 fine and a minimum two-game suspension.   

I do applaud Ray Anderson in his attempt to protect players from life-changing, and in some cases, career-ending injuries such as the recent neck down paralysis of Rutgers DT, Eric LeGrand, fines such as these are not enough especially when James Harrison makes $20 million dollars over the next three years.    

And with the violent and cringing replays being shown on ESPN, CNN and FOX News, this reaction by the NFL is, although long overdue, still not enough to deter helmet-to-helmet hits. Nor deter anyone from actually buying the photos of the Harrison-Massaquoi hit on NFL.com 

According to Yahoo.com the current best-seller is a 15 x 20-inch unframed print for $54.95, you can also get that size framed for $169.95 or a custom canvas gallery wrap for $249.95. There is nothing more disgusting than making profit off of such violent hits. Ever.

Recently, James Harrison's agent, Bill Parise, stated that Harrison is confused about how to play football, maybe he should advise his client to talk to former Patriots WR Daryl Stingley and former Chargers QB, Stan Humphries sometime.

Dawgfather76