Steelers LB James Harrison Thinks Browns Should Have Been Punished
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, given a one-game suspension for illegally hitting quarterback Colt McCoy on Dec. 8, thinks the Cleveland Browns should have been punished for even allowing McCoy back into the game after the hit.
"“If he was hurt so bad I don’t know why they let him back in . . . two plays later,” Harrison said. “Something should be done to them, I would think. I don’t know. I got a game, what should they get?”"
While it is questionable why the Browns would put McCoy back in the game, one has to go back to the original explanation by president Mike Holmgren: no one on the training staff saw the hit and McCoy himself wasn’t letting on about his head when trainers treated him on the field and the sidelines.
That’s not even mentioning the biggest difference in the two cases: Harrison’s hit was illegal. While the Browns made a mistake in letting McCoy back into the game, it wasn’t a conscious decision to put him in harm’s way.
The NFL has already stated that it won’t be punishing the Browns, though the league will now have independent trainers on the sidelines with medical staffs to provide “any relevant information that may assist them in determining the most appropriate evaluation and treatment.”