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.
- - - Updated - - -
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.
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?
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.
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.