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.
You are right.. he didn't have to do that to achieve the same goal. But Harris had a split second to decide whether to pull up on Scheffler. If that ball would've gotten through Samuel's hands and into Scheffler's hands then we would've been calling it a great hit.— jchpsu06- I like how Demps and Harris hits. If NFL decides to put on the same skirt they currently put on the QB's; I am fine with that as well. But it is not acceptable when Jackson and McNabb gets mauled and there is no call. That's exactly what's going on at this time.— Seed
- Reid needs to be very vocal about protecting his assets against rib breaking blow while his defense gets called for legitimate hits. Reid needs to take couple of monitary penalties if necessary to get his point through. Otherwise his player will feel intimidated by other teams.— Seed
- Harris took two steps after the pick, led with his shoulder into Sheffler's jaw, and finished by throwing out his forearm against a guy who was clearly out of the play. How could the ref standing right there NOT call that a penalty?— Sgerat
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- I still don't understand the ball spot after the penalties. When did unnecessary roughness become a spot foul????— sla6yer
Finally someone points out that this was a clean play, I was screaming the same at the TV.— gho_matt- It was a bang bang play and there was no chance Harris could have pulled off. It was less than half a second between interception and hit going full speed. Harris was going with the intent to break up the play. Not to mention that Scheffler was LOOKING at Harris as he got bulldozed. He was NOT defenseless nor was he in the air. You want to call unnecessary roughness look at DJax getting tossed 5 yards out of bounds after the play is dead and 5 getting frog splashed in the endzone. It's ludicrous.— BirdsRock
- I am pretty sure just about all live ball fouls are spot fouls with the exception being a facemask, which when on the defense is added to the end of the run. As for xi_lives, you said it man! A player cannot be expected to wait and see if the ball will reach the receiver. By then it's too late. The "blocking" explanation is silly. Harris saw Samuel taking ball so he took man in case the ball somehow got past Samuel.— mwilgus
- Bob, your analogy is fallacious. Macho didn't have time to sit and contemplate what to do next. Football players are encouraged to be nasty and physical. When a legal big hit is there for the taking they take it. The Eagles had the football when Scheffler got hit. Macho was making a brutal block. Scheffler was playing defense when he got hit. The officials should have had a conference and picked up the flag. Scheffler was not an eligible receiver when he got hit. The Eagles had the ball.— soulman386
- easy for Ford to say. Because it was a bad call, the play was stupid. What about the hit on McNabb that cracked his ribs. With such inconsistency and with the model of the crushing hit making a swan song appearance at the LINC, it is the ref that should have done a better job. Until there is consistency and clear cut guidelines,one can't call the effort dumb. Bad analogy Bob,good thing you're a sports writer not a lawyer. Making a clean, crushing block on a reciever who has transformed into a would be tackler is not crossing a rickety bridge. It's playing good football. The term unneccessary roughness does connote using restraint to accomplish your goal. The worst infraction I can remember...another McNabb vs Carolina incident,when Favors crushed a defenseless McNabb in the title game of 2004...all Favors had to do was tickle McNabb's toes and the play would have been whistled dead. I heard all the rationalizations about that hit and just realized that jocks are making up the rules.— retzlaff
- If the league really wanted to protect players (and make the games faster and less penalty prone) they should do away with both kickoffs and punts. Is there any type of play that always elicits a penalty with players hitting an blocking people at full sprint speed? If they got rid of these, they could also cut rosters by at least 10, as the folks on these teams are typically not starters and fairly expendable in the larger scheme of things (which might be the real reason the league does not care).— bobcitydoc
- Comment removed.
- Macho made a solid, clean, 'football hit'. The call was BS. Look at the video, he led with his shoulder, and his feet did not leave the ground. If AS doesn't make the int, then its a TD saving tackle, instead of a game changing call by the official. The NFL needs to review calls like this, and come down on the official who makes the bad call.— Mitchboe
