Steelers respond to James Harrison's claim that Mike Tomlin handed him 'an envelope' after violent 2010 hit

[polamalubeast]

Was his agent there to see it happen? How would his agent even know? He's probably trying to keep Harrison out of hot water. Right now, I'm just hoping if it did happen, that Tomlin used CASH. A check deposit at the time of the fine close to the amount of the fine would look very fishy. The NFL has good investigators. Tomlin has had some issues with fines before. I don't want to lose a draft pick or suffer from moving down again. That was the penalty for the sideline incident, I think

read post 14 now...

[Six Rings]

I think Harrison probably didn’t quite think through the ramifications of saying this stuff, but if you read all of it in context you’ll see that he was NOT trying to throw Tomlin or the organization under the bus. If anything he was making amends and stating how good Tomlin and Colbert were to him. He was paying Tomlin a compliment, not insinuating that Tomlin ever encouraged anyone to hurt players.


I actually gained respect for Harrison after reading the interview.

I no longer care what salty fans think of him. Harrison is a straight up bad motherfucker and a Steeler for life. He should be welcomed back with open arms by the organization and any true fan who has any respect for what it means to play like a Steeler.

In fact I respect him more now than I do Troy who is still kind of acting like a baby over the Steelers seeing that he could no longer play at a high level and told him that he should probably retire so they didn’t have to cut him.

At least Harrison is now giving respect to the organization that helped make him what he was.

I agree. Harrison played the game the way it used to be played and the NFL changed the rules because of him. Forget Ray Lewis, Harrison was a bigger bad @ss. He could knock anyone out of a game. A fantastic player, and one who probably made the key play to win our last Super Bowl. Harrison feared no man on or off the field and called it like it was. I think this happened. I also think Harrison agent said, James you want to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and cash out on it, you're going to need a good relationship with the owner. So he reversed his story.

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read post 14 now...

Oh, I agree there was no bounty. But I think Tomlin gave Harrison something to cover for that the Steelers felt was a legal hit. The way to make a fine or suspension worse to speak out against the NFL. The Steelers didn't want him sideline, so giving James something extra to make him feel better, possibly paying the amount of the fine in cash.

[pczach]

Was his agent there to see it happen? How would his agent even know? He's probably trying to keep Harrison out of hot water. Right now, I'm just hoping if it did happen, that Tomlin used CASH. A check deposit at the time of the fine close to the amount of the fine would look very fishy. The NFL has good investigators. Tomlin has had some issues with fines before. I don't want to lose a draft pick or suffer from moving down again. That was the penalty for the sideline incident, I think

Were you there to see it happen?

I'm pretty sure his agent talked to Harrison a hell of a lot more than you did.

I don't pretend to know what happened.

Listening you push this stupid agenda against Tomlin and this bullshit about losing a draft pick or "moving down again" is hilarious.

You are doing this crap in every thread and saying the same stuff over and over again. Did Tomlin knock your ice-cream cone out of your hand or something?

[hawaiiansteeler]

I think this happened. I also think Harrison agent said, James you want to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and cash out on it, you're going to need a good relationship with the owner. So he reversed his story.

I suppose everyone is entitled to their opinion, but you have no idea whatsoever if this is true.

just pure unfounded speculation on your part...

[HollywoodSteel]

None of us can know what really happened, and I think we can all agree that Harrison should have thought this through before mentioning any envelopes.

That said, my interpretation of the interview was not Harrison trying to get Tomlin or the Steelers in trouble. He was making the point that the NFL treated him unfairly, but he’s grateful that Tomlin and the Steelers organization had his back.

Maybe the envelope just had a thank you note in it. It’s not for the NFL to throw any accusations at Tomlin at this point without evidence of wrong doing. And to Harrison’s credit, he has not said that any money changed hands. He did explicitly say there was never any bounty placed on injuring players, nor was it ever encouraged.

If Harrison wanted to throw Tomlin under the bus he totally had the opportunity to do so in the aftermath of all this, but he absolutely chose to back Tomlin and be very careful not to say anything else incriminating about him.

I’m giving Harrison’s intentions the benefit of the doubt here.

[teegre]

That said, my interpretation of the interview was not Harrison trying to get Tomlin or the Steelers in trouble. He was making the point that the NFL treated him unfairly, but he’s grateful that Tomlin and the Steelers organization had his back.

Indeed That certainly was the tone of the interview.

That said, it also came off like Jimmy the Gent saying that Henry Hill wasn’t all that bad... because, they’d “painted a few houses” together.

[HollywoodSteel]

I forgot until just now that I’ve been using a picture of that $75,000 hit as my avatar ever since it happened. I downloaded this picture back when the NFL was still selling it on their site.

Harrison is 100% correct that the NFL were total hypocrites about player safety and were using him as the scapegoat to make it seem like they were doing something about it. I would have handed him that envelope myself if I could have.

And there is a HUGE difference between paying for a player’s unfair fine and actually paying a player to injure someone.

Just like it’s wrong to pay someone to commit murder. But it’s not wrong to pay for the defense of someone you believe was wrongly accused of murder. I think it’s disgusting that many fans and people in the media are conflating the two.