Pittsburgh Steelers LB James Harrison says lowered tackle area down around knee – NFL News
It appears that the league office’s sustainable efforts to discipline Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison have finally paid off as the player admits to have lowered his target area of tackling players down around the knee.
James has been known to be the most daring and rough tackler in the recent past, and the frequent knocking down of oppositions’ players, which include three from the Cleveland Browns alone, have cost him huge sum in fines, and a game ban.
He was first player to have been suspended for a game under the enhanced players’ safety measures of the league last year because of his hit on Browns’ then-quarterback Colt McCoy that had resulted in a concussion.
Some commentators and also a majority of Browns’ players agree that one-game ban was too little to discipline Harrison in view of the fact that he had committed the same foul for about half a dozen times in a row of three years.
After going through a period of silence earlier this year, Harrison has now said that the league’s changed rules have made him rethink his strategy and tackle opponents lower around the knee.
The LB said:
"I've really lowered my target area to where it's down around the knees. Situations come along where you could tackle the guy high. I don't do that anymore. I tackle the guy low."
He added:
"I could have tackled him high, but if I had hit him high, I probably would have gotten a helmet-to-helmet or something and gotten fined. So I hit him low and strained his MCL. They're saying it's a life-threatening injury to hit a guy in the head and he
gets a concussion and so on and so forth.”
It should come as good news for his opponents, especially for the Browns’ players, although there is no guarantee that they will not be wary of him in the future. During one of their remarks they stated that it was difficult for the players like Harrison
to change their habit, no matter how hard the league comes on them.
The future is expected to bear witness to credibility of Harrison’s claim, and if he has really changed, it is expected to save him money that he has been paying in fines.
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