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James Harrison Will Play With One Eye Tied Behind His Back

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I think [intlink id=”60″ type=”category”]Ryan Clark[/intlink] accurately sums up my feelings on the matter…

However, since I refuse to be held to 140 characters or less, here are 1,259 more on the subject. In my recap of the Texans debacle, I mentioned Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro linebacker [intlink id=”52″ type=”category”]James Harrison[/intlink] missed time when a piece of helmet lining flew into his eye. I didn’t pull that story out my ass. I was only going by what the man tweeted himself:


I assumed he was referring to helmet lining going into his eye because it seemed inconceivable to me that the Steelers’ medical staff would allow a guy with a fractured orbital bone (trace around your eye socket, that’s your orbital) go back on the field. Which makes me wonder, did Harrison fake out the doctors in order to go back in? Or did they not know what was wrong with him? Re-reading his tweet, it almost seems Harrison wasn’t aware of the extent of the damage.

Once again, the Steelers crack medical staff in action folks.

Take nothing away from Harrison. Steeler history is filled with nasty linebackers but Harrison is truly one BMF. While football is littered with alleged tough guys, Harrison is the real deal. After surgery, I hope they give Silverback an eyepatch so he can kick Sam Jackson’s ass and replace him as Nick Fury in The Avengers.

The bottom line is Harrison will be out for a while. Mike Tomlin, ever the fountain of information, said it would be “a number of weeks.” Ten is a number. So is three. But there is a huge difference between them when you’re discussing an injury. I feel sorry for all those ink-stained trolls who have to attend Tomlin’s press conferences because they are beyond useless.

We do know what will happen with the defense in Harrison’s absence. [intlink id=”114″ type=”category”]Lawrence Timmons[/intlink] is being moved to outside linebacker while Larry Foote joins James Farrior on the inside. This move is a bit perplexing only because Foote has been spelling Farrior quite a bit this season. Farrior has already shown signs of being far past his prime, I don’t think taking even more snaps will do him any favors. To be fair, Jason Worilds is injured so the logical choice of simply inserting him into Harrison’s spot is not an option. But all we ever hear is how high the team is on young linebackers such as Stevenson Sylvester or Chris Carter and now that one of them gets a chance to play, they choose 31 year old Larry Foote instead.