That’s bullshit. Here’s a video of the hit. Sure, it’s late, and a flag was warranted. But suspended? Nonsense. Fined $20K? That’s just retarded.
What I also love is that the video demonstrates the looping of the arm around the neck holding that we’ve previously discussed, along with a little extra holding of the jersey with the right hand for good measure. If he wasn’t held here, he would have had a sack. That’s the impact of holding James Harrison on the success of the Steelers.
If you don’t think that’s holding, please explain to me how it could be legal to restrain a player after they are already by you without holding.
I agree, no way that should have been a fine. Penalty sure. There won’t be a fine for the helmet-to-helmet hit on Hines Ward in the endzone either. Not that I think it should be but it was no cleaner than Harrison’s hit on Brees.
I don’t agree with the fine either and I don’t particularly like Harrison. There wasn’t much in the way of holding on that play either, as Hentor is claiming.
Don’t get me wrong, technically there was a brief hold on the play, but its one of those quick “grab and release” plays that the refs just generally don’t call. Had the o-lineman held on a moment more I’m sure the flag would have been thrown. It isn’t as if the refs aren’t watching Harrison, after all.
I haven’t seen any of the game or description of what’s happening, but just watching the crawl with the score of the Browns-Patriots game (which is presently 24-7 Browns), I’m ready to eat my words about the quality of the Browns’ team.
The Browns didn’t only beat the Saints and Pats, but completely destroyed them. The scores were closer because of a totally garbage time TD by the Saints and a bullshit TD gifted to the Pats with a phantom PI call on a 4th and 10 the Browns defended properly.
The Browns actually have, by number of opponent wins, the 2nd hardest schedule in the league so far. And every game except the Steelers game came down to the final drive.
A bounce goes the other way, and the Browns would’ve beat Tampa, KC, Atlanta, and Baltimore. They could easily be a 5-3 or even 6-2 team right now. I’m not saying they’re great, but they’re certainly not bad, and their record doesn’t reflect their true performance.
I hope these last two wins fill them with confidence and they’re firing on all cylinders. 2 more wins and they’re back to 5-5, and then who knows. I’m probably being too optimistic but what better statement can you make than demolishing the defending superbowl champs and then beating the team with the best record in the league?
Pretty surreal, isn’t it? I said that McCoy played very well in his first game against the meat grinder, and he’s continued to impress. He’ll be a good one as long as his team protects him.
I wasn’t going to bring that up again, but since you mention it, I rewatched the game and it solidified my initial impressions. His protection was excellent but he walked himself into sacks multiple times. His release time after the snap went over 3 seconds way too often. He missed open receivers. He played - if not scared, then nervous.
Definitely not as bad as it could’ve been, and I wasn’t really dissapointed, but he didn’t impress me in that game.
But I think you looked at the box stats and said well he threw for almost 300 yards and got sacked 5 times - and concluded that he must’ve been pretty good but his o-line wasn’t protecting him! Which is, from watching the game, quite the opposite - he threw up almost all of those yards when the Steelers were playing loose coverage when the game was practically over, and the protection was actually excellent, with McCoy creating his own sacks. I can only conclude that you make generalized assumptions based on the final stats of the game rather than being able to critically comprehend what’s actually going on as you watch it.
FWIW, McCoy looked significantly better today. More decisive, less skittish in the pocket.
Hey, if you want to beat on your own quarterback that’s your business. I am merely paying some respect to a guy who is playing very well considering his experience and the teams he’s been facing.
But hey, what do I know? I only hate the Browns. Why should a compliment toward a player on a team that I hate mean anything?
Anyway, about tonight’s game… is tonight the end for Marvin Lewis? Unless the Bengals win, a highly unlikely event, I think this seals the deal for him. Pittsburgh by 14, and it’s not even going to be that close on the field.
I’m not beating on him. I’m analyzing what has actually happened in reality. That you’d err on the side of complimenting a Brown is a little strange but again just the result of looking at the box score I guess and saying oh I guess he did alright. So you laying a compliment on him may be sincere in intent, and just like… wrong due to your inability to understand football.
Yeah I don’t imagine the Bengals are going to win tonight but man would that be nice.
Were that you were the football genius you purport to be. I saw the game and I came away impressed by McCoy. Really, do i need to justify that opinion?
This is funny, really. Here’s how it’s going:
Pittsburgh Fans: That Colt McCoy played surprisingly well against the Steelers’ defense!
Browns fan: NO HE DIDN’T! YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL!
Talk about stepping through the looking glass. Geez.
I don’t see why they can’t. Much like the Browns, all four of their losses in the last four games the Bengals had the lead at least in the third quarter, with the exception of the game against the Browns, a game in which Palmer passed for almost 400 yards and 2 TD’s with zero picks…
The Bengals problems are multi-faceted, but they could just as easily be 5-2 or 6-1 as 2-5 right now. They were in position to win every game. Their defense, which at this point in this season I’m guessing overachieved last season, has been porous as hell. Only 6 sacks all season long so far (here’s hoping for 6 more tonight!), terrible coverage in the oft-banged up secondary…a general lack of tackling, fire, whatever…and there you have it.
And I agree Airman, this may very well be Marvin’s last season. Him being a lame duck coach may be infecting the tea, with a general sense of malaise, much like Cowher’s last season with the Steelers.
Its a hot mess, but it has nothing to do with TO. He’s been great outside of a few drops. Chad has been a real pain in the ass, dropping tons of balls, freelancing routes…eh, I can’t wait until he’s gone.
Now, people who know a tiny bit about football will associate the O-line with sacks. If a QB gets sacked a bunch, he’s just not getting protection! But in reality it’s very often the QB creating his own sacks, either by choosing poor places to move to, enabling a defender to come free, or by holding onto the ball for too long.
Colt McCoy was sacked 5 times, and each one of them was some combination of the above. The protection was actually pretty remarkably good. With bad protection, he’d probably have taken more sacks.
You also said he did well - he didn’t shit the bed, certainly, but he only had about 120 yards when the game was within one score. He threw checkdowns to the backs and a few passes to the tight ends. To be fair, James “I don’t know if I can play within the NFL rules” Harrison did take out both his WRs in the game.
But he did get to do throw some wide open passes to some checkdown routes in garbage time late when the Steelers were giving it up, so he racked up another 150 yards that way.
So if you just look at the end stat line, he threw for 280 and got sacked 5 times, you might conclude that he did surprisingly well but his O-line must’ve sucked because he got sacked so much. But that’s the exact opposite of how it actually went down - he did very little passing when the game was close, despite the excellent protection.
I’m not really down on McCoy. I was earlier in the season because he was utterly lost in preseason, but he’s been fairly solid these last few games. He’s not winning games but he’s not giving them away. In this last game against the Pats, he actually completed two important third downs in a fairly impressive way. I hope he continues to progress.
You might be right, I just get the feeling from only half-assed watching them that they’re a team on the decline that isn’t fighting as hard as they could be. If they want to beat the Steelers they’re going to have to come out there pumped up. I’m certainly rooting for it.
They may not be fighting as hard as they can, I just don’t know what’s wrong with them. I can’t imagine them not coming out pumped up for this game. If they don’t at least show up for MNF then something is seriously wrong with the leadership of this team. Its not like the Bengals get many opportunities to play on Monday nights…
The Bengals don’t seem to be playing as tough a style this year (not that I think they’ll lay down for the Steelers). It seems like they’re passing a lot and not getting much in the way of grit from either of the lines. I still think they have decent corners and linebackers. I assume the guys up front aren’t buying them the space or the time to be effective.
