Hines Ward, Mike Tomlin and Pittsburgh Steelers Are Right to Slam NFL Hit Policy

Hines Ward and Mike Tomlin are not happy campers with the NFL's latest attempt to become a kinder, gentler brand of football.

Maybe, just maybe, Steeler fans—heck, NFL fans all over—might want to take sides with them on this one.

Ever since that helmet-to-helmet hit by James Harrison on Cleveland's Mohamed Massaquoi, the league seems to be doing everything it can to become a much more civilized work place.

All this rough stuff is really getting out of hand, isn't it?

Perhaps, just perhaps, the league might want to consider banning tackling in the fourth quarter of all games, when the players are tired. No tackling; let's just play flag football. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Okay, maybe that's a little harsh, but Ward's not happy, Tomlin's not happy and a lot of the players are certainly not happy.

"I know there's been some heated reaction from players and coaches around the league in terms of how the game is being officiated," is how Tomlin put it recently. "Very rarely do I view guys being pleased with officiating when it doesn't go your way."

Officiating is one thing; fines for these hits are another. Fact is, Harrison was not penalized for the hit on Massaquoi, but he did get that nice hefty fine.

"We're not going to get overly concerned about the penalties or the nature or state of the NFL in terms of how things are being officiated," Tomlin went on. "All we're going to simply do is play the game extremely hard, play it as fairly as we can, play within the rules and play to win."

What Tomlin should have added is, "Oh, and yes, we're going to continue to knock the crap out of guys when we're on defense."

That's the entire appeal of the NFL. It is not a contact sport, it is a collision sport, and this year the league apparently wants to modify the rules on a week-to-week basis, depending on who gets a concussion on Sundays.

Ward himself was knocked silly during the Sunday night loss to New England a couple of weeks back, and he wanted to go back in. Team docs said, "No."

You have to like the fact that Tomlin has his players' backs on all of this. He took up for Harrison, who was fined again, and pleaded that Harrison may not be able to send his children to college with that staggering $125,000 he's been tagged for this season.

That's Tomlin really stretching a bit, isn't it? After all, Harrison does have a $51 million contract. Seems like his kids will be just fine as long as M.C. Hammer isn't his financial advisor.

Tomlin's point in all of this, and Ward is with him, is that they believe the Steelers are being singled out.

That's not a good thing.

Fact is, we should all be concerned. The NFL keeps tampering with its product, and it is starting to get just a little too nitpicky, isn't it?

If the NFL was really that concerned about these issues, the league should go back and help all those former players who played every week with concussions, hit way too hard with equipment that was nowhere near as protective as it is today.

But the league isn't about to open that Pandora's box.

They just keep tweaking the rules, week to week.

Tomlin doesn't like it; Ward doesn't like it. You shouldn't like it either.

Just let 'em play some football.