Jetsfan1015 Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3646392 Troy Polamalu is usally soft-spoken off the field, hard-hitting on it. The recent rash of fines leveled at his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates has caused him to take a shot at the NFL, however. The Steelers safety suggested Wednesday that the NFL is leveling fines for hits more for its own interest than that of the players. "I think regarding the evolution of football, it's becoming more and more flag football, two-hand touch," Polamalu said. "We've really lost the essence of what real American football is about. I think it's probably all about money. They're not really concerned about safety." The Steelers have asked the NFL to clarify why Hines Ward, one of the league's best blocking wide receivers, was fined $15,000 the past two games for unnecessary roughness despite not being penalized. Ward was fined $10,000 following the Steelers' 26-21 win at Jacksonville on Oct. 5, a week after drawing a $5,000 fine for a play in which he stepped over Baltimore cornerback Corey Ivy on Sept. 29. Ward did not draw a penalty on either play. Also following the Jacksonville game, Steelers linebacker James Harrison was fined $20,000 for criticizing referee Brian Winter for calling a roughing-the-passer penalty against him. Two other Steelers also drew fines for that game, safety Ryan Clark $7,500 for unnecessary roughness -- a late hit -- and wide receiver Nate Washington $7,500 for taunting. Among the four players, the one-game fines totaled $45,000. "It's starting to cost too much money to come to work for these guys," coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday. Tomlin said he planned to call the NFL office about the Ward fines, and team chairman Dan Rooney wrote a letter questioning why Ward was fined. "We want to be a team and he [Ward] wants to be a player who plays the game the way it's supposed to be played, the way our league wants it to be played," Tomlin said. "We respect that. But we need a little clarity in that situation." Polamalu said that football's essence is being taken away with the NFL's heavy-handed penalties, saying football "just loses so much of its essence when it becomes like a pansy game." Polamalu said that past NFL greats wouldn't be able to play the way that made them great in today's game. "When you see guys like Dick Butkus, the Ronnie Lotts, the Jack Tatums, these guys really went after people," Polamalu told reporters. "Now, they couldn't survive in this type of game. They wouldn't have enough money. They'd be paying fines all the time and they'd be suspended for a year after they do it two games in a row. It's kind of ridiculous." Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillerPaul Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Bravo! I wanted to post this but figured i'd already hit my Steeler quota for the month. Anyways, maybe i'm a homer but i agree with Hines and Troy 100%. What boils me is there wasn't even flags thrown on the plays..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rillo Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Well said Troy! However I think a fine will be coming his way. NFL is becoming the NBA with the fines against players and coaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetsfan1015 Posted October 16, 2008 Author Share Posted October 16, 2008 Couldnt agree more. These penalties (especially roughing the passer penalties) are getting crazy and stupid. Im not saying that every hit should be leagal but most of these penalties should not be penalties. All the NFL wants is points and they are making it nearly impossible for the Defenses to play hard nose football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMaynard Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 He is right. It is getting ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
124 Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Troy is right. The league is getting way too soft. Case in point, the Eric Smith suspension and fine were ridiculous. Slap him with a 5K fine if you want and move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JETS11269 Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Troy is right. The league is getting way too soft. Case in point, the Eric Smith suspension and fine were ridiculous. Slap him with a 5K fine if you want and move on. With all due respect, Eric Smith didn't criticize an official, or commit a minor roughing the passer. He sent a star wide receiver on a stretcher, who is still being treated for fractured sinus because of a nasty helmet to helmet. Intent or not, the result was something the NFL does not want to see. Other than that, I agree with Polamalu: the NFL is fining way too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irish Jet Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I agree with Polamalu. It's getting beyond ridiculous right now, players aren't given any leverage whatsoever in terms of what they can do physically. Now incidents like Smiths hit on Boldin deserve fines and suspensions. Players leading with the helmet with a hit like that is just not want anyone wants to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackout Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 i disagree with troy we need stiffer fines Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillerPaul Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I agree with Polamalu. It's getting beyond ridiculous right now, players aren't given any leverage whatsoever in terms of what they can do physically. Now incidents like Smiths hit on Boldin deserve fines and suspensions. Players leading with the helmet with a hit like that is just not want anyone wants to see. Well if ya look at the replay of James Harrison's so-called late hit on the QB, he clearly gets there right as soon as the QB is letting the ball go. I've already seen Ben get hit a few times later than that with no flag whatsoever. They just need to be consistant with their calls. And like Tomlin said, Hines Ward has been blocking like that his entire career.... Only now they wanna call it roughness?? And there wasn't even flags thrown on the plays... Hines has always come right out and said that if he's gonna take the hits over the middle he's damn sure gonna dish em' out. That's nothing more than fair, physical play IMO. Then ya have the Baltimore front office filing complaints with league offices after Ward hit Ed Reed hard.... What happens when Reed gets a clean shot at Ward? Ya won't catch Rooney or Colbert rushing to call the league.... This is just crazy IMO. A DEFENSE fearing a WR? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackout Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 i hope he gets fined for speaking out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillerPaul Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 [quote name='Blackout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irish Jet Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Well if ya look at the replay of James Harrison's so-called late hit on the QB, he clearly gets there right as soon as the QB is letting the ball go. I've already seen Ben get hit a few times later than that with no flag whatsoever. They just need to be consistant with their calls. And like Tomlin said, Hines Ward has been blocking like that his entire career.... Only now they wanna call it roughness?? And there wasn't even flags thrown on the plays... Hines has always come right out and said that if he's gonna take the hits over the middle he's damn sure gonna dish em' out. That's nothing more than fair, physical play IMO. Then ya have the Baltimore front office filing complaints with league offices after Ward hit Ed Reed hard.... What happens when Reed gets a clean shot at Ward? Ya won't catch Rooney or Colbert rushing to call the league.... This is just crazy IMO. A DEFENSE fearing a WR? LOL Ward is simply a beast: YFuFTwLaufE O3uM3d42b6M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
war ensemble Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 With all due respect, Eric Smith didn't criticize an official, or commit a minor roughing the passer. He sent a star wide receiver on a stretcher, who is still being treated for fractured sinus because of a nasty helmet to helmet. Intent or not, the result was something the NFL does not want to see. Other than that, I agree with Polamalu: the NFL is fining way too much. The bolded shouldn't matter at all. And I stick with my belief that that shouldn't be a suspension. Using your logic (punishment by severity of injury) there should be fines and suspensions for two players that accidentally collide--similar to what happened in Smith's case, albeit a bit different. Smith didn't go in to hit him helmet to helmet, whoever was playing overneath (Rhodes?) hit him first and knocked his head down, leading to the hit. I didn't see anything dirty or worthy of suspension in that play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillerPaul Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 The funny thing to me is that most of the complaints come from the Baltimore side. Think about it, another AFC North team that prides themselves on playing physical old-school football. Matter of fact, look at Ward's play and tell me he doesn't resemble a Ravens type player? And when the Steelers and Ravens get together BOTH teams try to knock the hell out of each other. Matter of fact ANY AFCN game besides clowns vs bungles is an old school physical game. Ozzie Newsome would take Hines Ward in a minute should he have become a FA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neckdemon Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 The bolded shouldn't matter at all. And I stick with my belief that that shouldn't be a suspension. Using your logic (punishment by severity of injury) there should be fines and suspensions for two players that accidentally collide--similar to what happened in Smith's case, albeit a bit different. Smith didn't go in to hit him helmet to helmet, whoever was playing overneath (Rhodes?) hit him first and knocked his head down, leading to the hit. I didn't see anything dirty or worthy of suspension in that play. the more i think about it the more i think that, intent or not, something had to be done about the incident. when a guy is up in the air and defenseless like that....you shouldn't be launching yourself helmet first at him. maybe you think it's p*ssy, but all it takes is one time to end a guys career or life.....i think there are certain things the nfl is a little bit wussy about, but that's not one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugg Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Troy is right. The league is getting way too soft. Case in point, the Eric Smith suspension and fine were ridiculous. Slap him with a 5K fine if you want and move on.Agreed. Smith wasn't looking to hit Boldin where he did. But for the hit Boldin took a split second before, Smith doesn't come close; there was no intent. What hapopen to Bolidn was awful and we all hope hima swift and complete recovery. But every time anyone plays footballl, there's a chance, how ever slim, that something like that could happen. How Ward gets fined for blocking is amazing. If they really wanted to claim they worried abouy injuires, why don't the call the cut blocking penalty? When is the last tiem anyone got fined for cut blocking, which could blow out someone's knee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugg Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 the more i think about it the more i think that, intent or not, something had to be done about the incident. when a guy is up in the air and defenseless like that....you shouldn't be launching yourself helmet first at him. maybe you think it's p*ssy, but all it takes is one time to end a guys career or life.....i think there are certain things the nfl is a little bit wussy about, but that's not one of them.Sorry. the only way to judge is is in a player's intent. Otherwise you're punishing an accident of fate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
war ensemble Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 the more i think about it the more i think that, intent or not, something had to be done about the incident. when a guy is up in the air and defenseless like that....you shouldn't be launching yourself helmet first at him. maybe you think it's p*ssy, but all it takes is one time to end a guys career or life.....i think there are certain things the nfl is a little bit wussy about, but that's not one of them. Basically, I agree with Bugg's last two posts here. But I'll add one more thing. Smith didn't launch himself with the intent for helmet to helmet, and almost any normal hit would've done something similar. Mistakes shouldn't be punished by fine or suspension, malicious hits with the intent to harm should. Punishing people for something beyond their control, like Rhodes knocking Boldin's head down and indirectly causing the collision, is utterly insane. What's the player supposed to do to stop something like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KudosForND Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 100% agreed with them i thin they just fine to make more money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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