MMQB Review: Rodney Harrison Likes Cracking Down on Violent Hits...After He Has Retired Of Course

After having taken his moral outrage out on the Cowboys two weeks ago for spending a bunch of money at a restaurant (Peter was probably drinking a $5 latte while writing it), Peter was morally outraged last week that a man of God would be carrying a gun in his car. We should have been morally outraged that Peter named the best tight ends in the NFL without even thinking about their other duties besides pass catching. This week Peter takes his moral outrage to the football field, where apparently there is a lot of hard hitting going on. Peter is going to take a closer look at his beloved game that has suddenly turned into a violent sport...just overnight.

"This is crazy!'' Rodney Harrison said as we tried to process the sixth or seventh vicious NFL hit of the day in the NBC viewing room Sunday afternoon.

Then, almost under his breath, Harrison said quietly, "Thank God I retired.''

The king over the last 10 years of cheap and vicious hits, Rodney Harrison, is now shocked at how hard football players are hitting. This is like Matt Millen being able to commentate on the moves an NFL GM makes and then being shocked at how poor some of them are (Wait, that actually sort of happens). Really, isn't Harrison the perpetrator of these hard hits in the past, and now he is feeling astounded at how hard football players hit? Why wasn't he concerned about this as he was putting receivers who dared to cross the middle on the ground?

So many thoughts. One: It's time to start ejecting and suspending players for flagrant hits, which I thought the Meriweather one was, and perhaps also the shot of Harrison on Massaquoi. Two: the league had better train its officials better considering there was no penalty on the Harrison hit on Massaquoi.

I hate to somewhat agree with Gregg Easterbrook, but this is part of the culture of football taught from the time kids can play organized tackle football. That's where it has to start. The players are more athletic now than they used to be and hitting the opponent hard is considered tough and players secretly take pride in making a receiver woozy. I don't know if I want the officials to start making personal judgments on whether a hit was flagrant or not. Ejecting a player for a hit that is borderline flagrant could have a direct impact on a game. I know knocking a receiver out for a quarter or two does as well (if it was a legal hit then what could we do?), but I am still not sure if I want officials making judgment calls like this.

I will hand it to Harrison. In the year-and-a-half I've worked with him, he's become more thoughtful about the game than I remember from his playing days, when his life was a seek-and-destroy mission.

That's because he is retired. When he played in the NFL, he was among the worst headhunters. He isn't going to run and blindside Tony Dungy in the NBC studios or anything. There's nothing to hand him. He quit headhunting because he retired from football. That's not a compliment to his character, but a result of him not playing in the NFL anymore.

"You didn't get my attention when you fined me five grand, 10 grand, 15 grand,'' Harrison said. "You got my attention when I got suspended ... You have to suspend these guys. These guys are making millions of dollars. The NFL [has to say], 'We're going to really protect our players. We're going to suspend these guys, not one game, but possibly two or more games.' ''

Of course Rodney Harrison says this AFTER he has retired from the NFL. It's funny how many great ideas to punish NFL players an ex-NFL player has AFTER he has retired. Harrison would have been livid at the idea he could have gotten suspended two games for a hard hit if he was still playing in the NFL.

They love them some Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh, and he repaid his fans and his team with a game he thought was a "B-minus, C-plus.''

What Roethlisberger actually said was many of the women fans were "B-minus, C-plus" today in regard to attractiveness. Let's just say there were a whole bunch of them he would not take into a bathroom while out at a bar...not that he does that anymore...but if he did do that, there are many of these women fans who he would not take into a bathroom. He's a changed man now though, so this would not occur.

There's been a Tim Tebow sighting. Came in the end zone.

Really? Peter King is going to write "Came in the end zone" when talking about a quarterback who has been written about extensively because he is a virgin? Is he writing the jokes for me now?

Dallas is 1-4. San Diego is 2-4. There's a new standard for despair, and those two teams are setting it.

Let's please remember San Diego is my preseason Super Bowl pick. Not to make the Super Bowl, but to win the Super Bowl.

Officials don't know how to call pass interference still ... and can we end the madness and please, please, please make pass interference a 15-yard penalty and not a spot foul?

Peter is not talking about the Vikings-Cowboys game, but the officials called pass interference on Mike Jenkins with 2:16 left and the Cowboys having no timeouts...and it was third down. Since Favre is the one who benefited, Peter leaves this one alone, but it was a tough call. Jenkins was playing physical defense, but I am not sure the ball was catchable and I don't know if an official should make that call. Regardless, the officials essentially handed the game to the Vikings with that call because the Cowboys couldn't stop the clock.

Kolb's passing line in the two starts while Mike Vick recuperates from his chest injury:

Comp.-Att. Pct. Yards Yds.per-att TD-Int. Rating 44-60 .733 579 9.65 4-1 118.7

Right. We all saw this coming.

I don't know. I thought before the season Kolb would be a decent starter for the Eagles. Vick playing well didn't really change it too much for me. There is a segment of the population called, "not Peter King" who doesn't take 1-2 games and then overreact to what happened in those games.

The natives forgot how ticked off they were at Roethlisberger for his off-field boorishness (and, allegedly, worse behavior) and showered him with cheers from the time he pulled into the Heinz Field parking lot at 10:30 Sunday morning. Then the game: 16 of 27, touchdowns to his three key targets (Mike Wallace, Hines Ward, Heath Miller), one bad pick, and 257 yards, almost double what the Steelers had been averaging through the air.

We fans will forgive anything as long as a player plays well while on the field.

Roethlisberger had to slide the line over during his cadence to account for a Browns blitz. He hung in, knowing he was going to get hit. When I asked him to grade his game, he said, "B-minus, C-plus. I left a lot of throws out there.''

Roethisberger's exact quote was actually, "B-minus, C-plus. There were a lot of straight-up ho's out there."

Now it gets harder for Roethlisberger. Sunday was the dry run for him. Now it'll get nastier,

That's what she said.

Last week, Branch was traded back to New England. To make the trade happen, Branch lowered his 2011 compensation by $3.65 million. That makes his original contract from 2006 now worth six years and $35.35 million. Now, there's no guarantee the Patriots wouldn't have tried to cut Branch's salary. But I ask you this: Where would Branch have had his best chance to be productive: with the team that drafted him, quarterbacked by an all-timer who had great chemistry with him, consistently in one of the best offenses in football ... or with a team with an oft-injured quarterback, adjusting to a new offensive system, and with three head coaches in five years?

"You don't leave Tommy Brady. Only bad shit happens when you do that. Deion Branch would have been one of the best receivers in the history of the NFL if he had stayed with Brady. I'm going to ignore that if the Patriots don't trade Branch they probably don't go after Moss (or possibly Welker) and almost go 19-0 in a season."

Branch was a great receiver with the Patriots but if he stayed would the Patriots have been one of the best offenses in the NFL? There's so many variables to be measured here, but Branch may have been better off staying in New England, but I don't know if the Patriots would have been better off or not.

Oh, you said you wanted a chart that shows something related to the Patriots? Like most weeks, Peter obliges:

Check out his last six playoff games in New England. That's how you can tell how much the Pats and Brady were beginning to lean on him, and what a great career he could have had if not for the forced deal to Seattle:

G Rec. Yards Avg./Catch Avg./Game TD 100-Yd. Games 6 36 596 16.6 99.3 2 4

Again, I am not sure the Patriots trade for Moss (or maybe even Welker) if they have Branch. I think I am going to start trying to predict what chart related to the Patriots that Peter will have in his MMQB.

"It's been a challenge,'' Tebow said, choosing his words carefully and politely. "But I'm OK with it. Kyle's been playing so well. All I can do is prepare every week for whatever my role is, continue to learn this offense, and wait for the time when the coaches think I can help the team.''

That time came against the Jets in Denver's 24-20 loss, when Tebow got under center and ran a version of the option in the first half, sometimes running, sometimes pitching. His five-yard sprint around right end with 11 minutes left in the first half tied the game at 7. Tebow still hasn't thrown a pass, and eventually, McDaniels has to let him do so, if only to show defenses he might throw so they can't load up against the run.

I'm really excited to see Tebow throw the football with that new awesome throwing motion he has. I also am a little confused as to why Tebow is choosing his words carefully and politely. He is aware he is a rookie QB and quite a few rookie QB's drafted later in the first round don't start their first year? I'm not sure why he would have to try and be polite. He should never have had an expectation of starting his first year in the NFL.

A 46-yard interference call. The Jets advanced from the 48 to the two on a wing and a prayer.

Stupid. Yes, it was interference. No, it was not worthy of a 46-yard gift. For years, this had been the dumbest rule in the NFL book. Sunday was exhibit A for making interference at most a 15-yard penalty from the line of scrimmage -- not placed at the spot of the foul.

I can see how this rule needs to be changed and I can also see why this rule should stay in place. For any pass over 15 yards, it makes sense for the defender to interfere and not let the receiver catch the ball. If the defender has no chance at the ball, just interfere and the other team only gets 15 yards.

I think I would be in favor of changing the rule, but what Peter is missing is that if Holmes was not interfered with, the odds of the Jets having the ball at the 2 yard line are very high. So why favor the defense and take away where the offense would have had the ball if the interference had not happened? Why give the offense 15 yards if they would have had 46 yards (most likely) without the interference? Pass interference is only supposed to be called if a player was interfered with when it is a catchable ball, so if a QB throws a 70 yard pass and the receiver is tripped up and falls 5 feet short of the ball, I can see how this would be a 70 yard penalty.

Then Peter talks about Deion Sanders being angry he is considered the 34th best player of all-time in a new NFL Films show.

The following 11 defenders are rated higher. I don't know the order they're in, so I've listed them by my best guess of how they'll fall.

• Linebacker Lawrence Taylor
• Defensive end Reggie White
• Linebacker Dick Butkus
• Defensive end Deacon Jones
• Safety Ronnie Lott
• Defensive tackle Joe Greene
• Linebacker Ray Lewis
• Defensive tackle Bob Lilly
• Linebacker Jack Lambert
• Defensive tackle Merlin Olsen
• Defensive end Bruce Smith

Lest you quickly look over those 11 and say, for instance, "Deion was better than the last couple of guys listed,'' consider this: Olsen made more Pro Bowls, 14, than any other defensive player in NFL history,

Right...Pro Bowls, that's the best way to determine a player that played a completely different position in a completely different generation from Sanders was a better overall defensive player. Pro Bowls.

5. Indianapolis (4-2). Everyone's right: The Colts aren't the same with so many injuries, and with guys like Brody Eldredge (you know Brody -- he was the backup tight end at Oklahoma last year) playing big roles. But they can still rush the passer, still force the Donovan McNabbs of the world into mistakes the way they did Sunday night, and they have a quarterback who's pretty good too.

Here's the thing, and this was pointed out last week in the comments, but the Colts have chosen to build their team this way. They have chosen to pay 5-6 players big money and then try to fill in the other holes on the roster with undrafted free agents and draft picks. That's how they built their team. I don't feel bad for them when they have injuries and I refuse to accept this as an excuse for them. They are still a good team, but they are also a team that relies on "no-name" players to step in because that's how the team is built.

7. Philadelphia (4-2). When's the last time one team had two of the top 12 quarterbacks in football?

What's this have to do with the Eagles?

Or at least two quarterbacks who, this year, have played like top-12-in-the-game quarterbacks?

Here we go. Peter had written off Kevin Kolb for this season and possibly his career, told us that Kolb may get traded, and then Kolb has a good game and Peter says he has played like a Top-12 quarterback this year. Peter loves to overreact to what happens on a weekly basis in the NFL.

How is Top-3 fantasy pick Arian Foster been doing since Game 1 of the season? 80.8 yards rushing per game and three touchdowns and 34.6 yards receiving yards and one touchdown. Not bad numbers, but also not Top-3 fantasy pick numbers.

11. Atlanta (4-2). Falcons bit on too much play-action in Philly and didn't disrupt Kevin Kolb enough. Not a great team right now.

The Falcons were the class of the NFC last week at #4 in Peter's rankings and this week they lose on the road to Peter's #7 team and they aren't great right now in Peter's eyes, so they move to #11.

14. Houston (4-2). Though the Texans were more lucky than good on the awful pass-interference call Sunday, they did score 21 points in the last 13 minutes to win.

That's a nice little excuse. Considering the Texans scored 21 points in the fourth quarter of a game, I am not sure I would chalk up the Texans victory to just one bad call in the fourth quarter. I know the Texans beat the Chiefs, who Peter likes this year, but the Chiefs lost the game mostly because they gave up 21 points in the fourth quarter.

15. Washington (3-3). Credit where credit's due -- five of the Redskins' six games have hung in the balance on the last possession of the game. And that LaRon Landry continued his terrific play Sunday night against Indy with a huge pass breakup that

Landry came out of relative anonymity (as Peter said last week) as a Top 10 pick and the owner of a 5 year $41.5 million contract out of LSU to make this great play.

But more amazing is that Spagnuolo has taken a non-pressure defense and turned it into a feisty group bringing more pressure than any recent Rams D. On Sunday, the defense got to Philip Rivers seven times, two each by the famous Chris Long and unfamous James Hall and Larry Grant.

So to sum it all up (and we can't forget Peter King's MASSIVE crush on Chris Long two years ago...it was a huge crush and I mentioned it nearly every week), 2007 NFL Pro Bowl alternate LaRon Landry was in relative anonymity, while Chris Long and his 11.5 sacks in his 3 years in the NFL are "famous." I don't think this is a reference to Chris Long's father, Howie Long, either. I think Peter is just an idiot.

Tweet of the Week

"Did you notice jenn sterger's name backwards spells 'regrets'?''
--@LATimesfarmer, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, Saturday at 9:56 a.m.

Evidently, Ms. Regrets, the former Jets sideline host, is having none of this NFL investigation. Roger Goodell told NBC's Alex Flanagan on Saturday that the league has been unable to get Sterger to cooperate in the league's investigation of allegedly inappropriate texts sent by Favre to Sterger.

Clearly, this means Sterger is lying about the allegations she hasn't even really formally made against Brett Favre. Just like every woman who doesn't press charges when a man abuses her is lying, so is Sterger. Favre just needs to pay her off, let the Commissioner turn the blind eye he wants to turn, and then let the media continue to fawn all over him like they normally do.

In a different situation with a different player, I would suspect the media would wonder why the alleged victim of a high-profile athlete refused to cooperate with authorities, with the implication that athlete was either (a) threatening her to not cooperate or (b) paying her off to keep her mouth shut. I am not sure I have seen either allegation here. I don't know, maybe its just me, but if Ray Lewis was in this situation I think people would believe the fix was in. I don't get that feeling here.

k. Brad Childress' honesty. I like how he's had enough of Brett Favre as John Wayne. Asked about Favre's toughness after the Vikings win, Childress said: "We're paying him enough every game. He's going to get hit."

I am sure he got a good talking to by Favre and Zygi Wilf after he said this.

4. I think kudos are in order for Amani Toomer. He'll be running in the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 7 to raise money for New York Road Runners Youth and Community Services, to promote fitness and running among kids,

He said running a marathon is something he's always wanted to do, for many reasons. The challenge, for one, and to bust a few myths about football players. "People think football players don't translate to other sports,'' he said.

Really? There are people who think football players don't translate to other sports? I'm not sure if I have ever met someone who believes this, especially since the current generation of NFL fans grew up with Antonio Gates, Deion Sanders, Brian Jordan and Bo Jackson being quite popular and well-known for having played another sport other than football.

6. I think the one thing I find odd about the NFL's investigation into the alleged text and phone messages sent by Favre to Sterger is that we're in Day 10 of this probe, and as of Sunday, no one from the league had contacted A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin.com, the site that bought the incriminating evidence and put it on display for all to see.

Or as it would have been called if a newspaper found this information, "obtained the evidence from a reliable, anonymous source and thoroughly reported it to the public." Selena Roberts stalking A-Rod and using anonymous sources to throw allegations of cheating against his Rangers team is reporting, while the purchase of information and evidence to support this information is "buying incriminating evidence and putting it on display for all to see."

I love the days of online reporting v. newspaper reporting.

9. I think Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News touched the right nerve with me the other day when he wrote about the most maddening rule NOT in place in the NFL. Coaches shouldn't be able to call those ridiculous last-millisecond timeouts before kickers kick important field goals.

Those timeouts are annoying. The problem lies in the fact an offense or defense can call a timeout at any point before the play clock hits zero, even after the offense or defense has begun running an offensive or defensive play. So on field goals, teams should be able to call a timeout anytime before the play clock hits zero. I am annoyed by these timeouts too, so I would like for the rule to change, but logically I am not sure the NFL will change it.

k. Anybody No. 1 in college football? Not to parrot Tony Dungy or anything, but how is anyone better than Oregon?

So they are the best team in college football according to Peter?

Except maybe Oklahoma or Boise State.

Or maybe not? What happened to TCU?

"How is there any better quarterback in the NFL than Peyton Manning? Except maybe Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady."

See, the first part of the question is answered by the second part. So essentially Peter poses and answers his own question.

n. Anyone else creeped out by the Philly crowd whistling at Tim Lincecum like he's a cute girl?

Not really. I am pretty sure they are attempting to mock him because he has long hair.

How about how some fans treated Pat Burrell? He was a part of the 2008 World Series championship team.