LIVING ON THE EDGE
Harrison’s antics won’t fly with Belichick
FOXBORO — It is difficult to look at 6-foot-3-inch, 250-pound Marquis Flowers and think “out of the mouth of babes” but yesterday that thought came to mind after the 25-year-old Patriots linebacker was asked about what the arrival of faded one-time All-Pro James Harrison might mean.
“I know the edge will be set,” said Flowers, who has been too often victimized by the train often rolling around the edges of the Patriots’ defense, its speed unimpeded by those designated to hold that edge firm.
Although there have been decided defensive improvements since the early-season debacles, the truth is the edge of New England’s defense generally remains as rigid as overcooked pasta. Because of the jello-like consistency of its edge run defense, cornerbacks are getting regularly trucked because bigger men in front of them too often seem unable to turn runners back inside. Those runners are too often rambling around end untouched by human hands.
Linebackers like Flowers have done it no better of late than defensive ends like Cassius Marsh (departed), Rob Ninkovich (departed, retired) or Eric Lee (present but too often departed when asked to hold the edge). Enter James Harrison. Once Harrison was the AP Defensive Player of the Year (2008), but he has started only 12 games in the past four seasons and this year played just 40 snaps before the Steelers tired of his disruptive disengagement from his teammates and released him this week. However, Harrison is not gone simply because he allegedly slept in a recliner in linebacker coach Joey Porter’s meeting room, loudly snoring (or faux snoring for effect). He’s gone because the Steelers felt he served them better in a recliner than on the field.
At 39-years-old, after 15 bruising seasons of concussive collisions, James Harrison is no longer the player he once was. There’s no shame in that. In fact, it’s inevitable.
How he reportedly has handled his decline, however, is too.
Harrison is a five-time Pro Bowl selection but hasn’t made that trip since 2011, which is also the last time he had double-digit sacks. If Patriots fans, or Patriots themselves for that matter, expect to see that James Harrison they’d best go to YouTube. Those days are over.
But that is not why Bill Belichick decided to take a chance on him. He’s also not here to supply Belichick and his staff with inside information on the Steelers. As many times as Belichick has prepared for them, and as predictable as the Steeler Way has become, there is little need for that and often times such stuff causes more confusion than it eliminates.
No, James Harrison is here in the hope, possibly vain hope, that he can set the edge for the Patriots better than those previously hired to do so. Whether he can or not, and whether he’ll be happy about it, remains to be seen, but you can bet on one thing. You can bet Harrison has already been informed that this is not the Steelers, meaning his announcement in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he will play Sunday against the New York Jets and took “about 30 snaps” in his first practice will be the last practice report he’ll be handing out to the media because the next time he’ll be handed a pink slip to go with it.
Bill Belichick’s Patriots are not Mike Tomlin’s Steelers. There are no recliners in the meeting rooms and if you import one you will be deported faster than an illegal alien on Donald Trump’s kitchen staff.
If you are inactive for a game here and opt to skip practice and go home you might as well keep going because when you return your locker will be empty. Players under Belichick can be child-like but not childish, which is what Harrison clearly was in his final days in Pittsburgh.
It is highly uncommon for teammates to rip a departed player as universally as the Steelers did after Harrison signed with the Patriots. Some of that may be an outgrowth of the deep hatred off all things New England in Pittsburgh. Heck, in Pittsburgh they even hate the Enchanted Village at Jordan’s Furniture store. But the thrust of it seemed to come from a deep disappointment at how unprofessionally Harrison reacted to his limited playing time this season.
Say what you want, excuse makers, that “our James” was “lied to” by the Steelers, as Harrison has claimed. Truth is do you think David Harris was told he’d spend more time watching Patriots games than most sportswriters when he agreed to come to New England this year? Did he go to his recliner when he found himself deactivated?
James Harrison is a grown man, whether he’s acting like one or not. After 15 years in the NFL he knows any playing time promise is a) not worth the air it took to utter the words from some coach’s mouth; and b) subject to change without notice based on his own play. Don’t make plays and you don’t play. Simple as that.
You tell me what Belichick or any other coach would do if he had Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt, both young, fast and strong, on the roster. Would he sit them for a guy who hasn’t started as many as 10 games in five years?
James Harrison was in Pittsburgh this year to be what he now is in New England. He’s disaster insurance and the truth of the matter is there is no one on earth, including 32 NFL head coaches, who want to use that policy. If they have to, they will, but they didn’t want to in Pittsburgh and Belichick doesn’t want to here, either.
Bill Belichick has made a number of these kind of late season moves to sign a suddenly available veteran who is either past his prime or in someone’s doghouse. The only one that ever paid off was LeGarrette Blount, who now plays for the Eagles. This is likely to be no different, but Belichick is kicking the tires and hoping that Marquis Flowers is right, because if James Harrison can hold the edge he will have held up his end of the bargain.