Of all the controversial hits, I thought Dunta Robinson should not have been fined. No helmet to helmet hit and Desean still had the ball in his hands when he delivered the blow. As far as defenseless, are they saying he should allow him to make the catch and take a step before hitting him. No way.
Agree with you to a point, but he should have been fined and put on notice that a suspension would follow the next incident like this. Not because he could have hurt Jackson (he could have led with his shoulder and delivered the same pain), but because the next time Robinson could snap his own neck and be taken off the field on a slab. My son is going into high school next year and I told him I'm pulling him out of football the first time I see him duck his head to make a tackle. If the NFL is concerned about player safety, they can't allow players to deliver hits like that, particularly at full speed.
Harrison's were both vicious hits by an intense player, but they were both clearly helmet to helmet. I agree with a fine on the first one but the one against Cribbs, I thought helmet to helmet is OK when the guy is already running with the ball?
Harrison is a punk but he got a raw deal on these. Massaquoi ducked down at the last second. If Cribbs didn't get held up by Woodley just before the hit, Harrison would have likely connected with his shoulder or side. Looks to me like these fines were a lifetime achievement award.
Meriweather's hit was just stupid, and pretty cowardly. Heap was already on his way down and the ball was well out of his grasp. It was probably the least vicious, but just stupid and a fine was well deserved.
Totally agree. Meriweather needs to stay on his feed and recalibrate his strike zone. I don't think he is trying to headhunt, but his stupid attempts to deliver a de-cleater makes helmet-to-helmet contact almost inevitable.
My problem with all of the talk is that it is results-based and not technique-based. If you want to change behavior, punish the behavior. Harrison got punished even though he (for the most part) did everything right. Much like the Chung-to-Henne hit last year. When you have large armored humans running around at high velocity in a closed space, some bad things are going to happen.
Also, the league can't get hung up on technicalities. Ryan Clark could have crippled Welker and Perierra (I think?) said he thought it was perfectly legal. The only difference between Clark's hit and Meriweather's was that Mayo moved Heap a little before impact. You can't outlaw Meriweather's hit and allow Clark's and hope to have any notion of fairness, consistency and concern for player safety. It just becomes an unregulated tool for lashing out at players/teams whenever the league office feels like it.
Robinson (dangerous techique) and Meriweather (stupid technique) should be reprimanded regardless of the outcome of the play. If they don't change, suspend them. Just don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
