On Tuesday, the NFL decided to uphold the four-game suspension of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. While we still have a while to wait until we find out whether or not Brady will take his appeal to the higher courts, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, as you would expect, has no sympathy for Brady.
“That’s a shame,” Harrison said Wednesday of the league’s latest ruling against Brady, according to Jacob Klinger of pennlive.com.
James Harrison on Brady's suspension being upheld: "That's a shame." #steelers
— Jacob Klinger (@Jacob_Klinger_) July 29, 2015
In addition to Harrison probably not being a big fan of the Patriots organization, it’s also important to remember that the Steelers were the only team to vote against ratifying the current CBA back in 2011. At that time, several players warned against giving Commissioner Roger Goodell too much power moving forward.
“With Roger Goodell having total control over the fine process, that’s a deal-breaker for us in this situation.” Former Steelers safety Ryan Clark said back in 2011, “We feel like someone else should be on there,” as he talked about the appeals and disciplinary process. “There should be some … type of way — actually someone who’s not on the NFL payroll. A big issue, for us, especially, as a team, is Roger Goodell … being judge, jury and appeals system.”
While we don’t know the context of Harrison’s Wednesday remarks about the Brady ruling, one could easily speculate it has multiple meanings. For one, it could be Harrison implying that the Steelers tried to warn players around the league that something like this could possibly happen. Additionally, Harrison might view the recent ruling by the league against Brady as meaning he’s disappointed he won’t possibly get a chance to get after the Patriots quarterback in the Thursday night regular season opener.
