Macho Harris: Victim or Vacuum?
Philadelphia Inquirer Sports Columnist Bob Ford writes about the Eagles, the Phillies, the Sixers and the Flyers.
Macho Harris: Victim or Vacuum?
Bob Ford, Inquirer Sports Columnist
I knew I'd find that logon and password information eventually. Welcome back, Post Patterns.
Have gotten a good deal of mail and encouraging messages since writing a column for the Monday Inquirer about the Eagles' proclivity for taking penalties in general, and about the potentially disastrous one taken Sunday against Denver by rookie safety Macho Harris.
The YouTube of the hit on Denver tight end Tony Scheffler is embedded below, and I'm reposting the great still taken by Inquirer photographer Ron Cortes as Harris was knocking Scheffler out of the play and very nearly out of the Eastern time zone.
OK, what of it? Many of you feel that: a) the official blew the call, assessing the Eagles with an unnecessary roughness penalty when Harris was within his rights to lay out Scheffler after the Asante Samuel interception; b) hey, this is supposed to be tackle football; c) anyone who criticizes Harris for this hit must prefer ballet; and d) E-A-G-L-E-S.
All of that has some merit, but overlooks the fact that the Eagles were penalized on the play, lost about 40 yards in field position and might have ended up losing the game for what was, like it or not, an unnecessary hit, even if it was technically legal (meaning he didn't lead with his helmet or project himself through the air to deliver it).
The point you might be missing is that NFL officials aren't always very good, particularly the side judge and the field judge who operate downfield along the sidelines. The league has instructed the officials to protect defenseless players and have made a priority of it this season. If you are a safety in the NFL, this information should be in your head. If you are pursuing a play, see an interception made and want to separate the receiver from a chance of making the tackle, you do not have to risk a penalty by knocking him into next week. Harris, with the angle he had, could have just continued his momentum and pushed the guy out of the play. No call, big return.
It isn't about being right, in this case. It is about not getting the penalty. I'll use the rickety bridge analogy and then you can have at it. If you are driving your car and come to a very rickety bridge, and decide to drive across anyway, if you should plunge into the gorge below, technically, yes, it is the fault of the bridge. But it wouldn't have happened if you didn't do something dumb.
The official might have over-reacted. It was borderline, and maybe Harris shouldn't have been flagged. But he was, and that means it was a dumb play. Because he didn't have to do that, to achieve the same strategic goal. It was unnecessary. And that's what the official called.
Absolutely, Positively a LEGAL hit. If you can't take it, get out of the game. Not trying to sound like a homer, but our players get late hits on them all of the time, especially from the Giants and Cowboys with no calls. Try some consistency, NFL. If Brady or Romo or Favre gets hit, there is lots of crying and a flag everytime.— takebackamerica1- This officiating crew was just terrible from the first blown call of the backwards pass to almost all of the calls.— bobbyuk
Comment removed.- sgerat - since when is your chin located in your chest?
- Horseracing? lol— cote32
- Bob. You are an idiot. This isn't a rickety bridge. It is football. Harris had literally less than 1 second from when Asante touched the ball to when he made contact. Second, the receiver is looking RIGHT AT Harris when he made the hit. He wasn't in the air, he wasn't stretched out. He wasn't vulnerable. This game is about anticipation and being aggressive. That hit had both. If Brian Dawkins makes that hit, you'd be saying what an amazing player. But since it was a rookie who hit him you think it was idiotic. Get a clue and watch more football.— fjc324
- Comment removed.
- How many times did we see Ronnie Lott do that. Ah the way football use to be. If these guys can't be hit anymore maybe they need to take pay cuts also.— mainstreet
- Well we do know that Asante would not have made that hit if Harris would have made the INT— jakejake
As long as the NFL keeps employing 60 year old bankers and insurance salesmen as referees, this will continue to happen. It was an embarrassing call. This is football, not soccer.— Justicek- Please answer the excellent question concerning the ball placement. It makes no sense.— Ray Spruance
- Hey look when you read a Ford article you aren't expecting pulitzer. But this one is so embarrassingly stupid you would be silly not to wonder what he was thinking.— TripleCap
- It's not a bad play because of a flag. That's ridiculous. The only question is why can't someone block after an interception? That not based on any logic or rule.— Jim C.
- Bob, with all due respect this is a terrible blog. It's a bad call, so the player is stupid? Huh? He doesn't make that block (yes I said block), Samuel might have have been tackled deep anyway. Carey's crew was atrocious all night. I wonder if you'll call out Brian Dawkins's stupid play on his illegal contact penalty that directly to an Eagles' TD. That was just as miserable a call, but I guess Dwakins's play wasn't dumb.— Tech_Triumph
- I was at the game and didn't even notice the hit. Watching it on replay it looks clean to me. Did he need to level him? No, I suppose he could have pulled up, given Scheffler a friendly tap on the shoulder and asked him nicely to allow Asante to return the pick, all in the span of 1/8 of a second. But last I checked football was a contact sport, and hits like that are why the game is so popular. Good play by Macho, terrible call by the refs. I would have been more disappointed had he not leveled him to be honest. If you are going to call plays like that illegal why not just outlaw hitting in general and turn into the National Flag Football League? Goodell needs to take a lesson from the NHL and stop trying to turn football into a finesse game.— trizot
