Thursday Night QB Massacre

On Thursday night Week 14 got off to a smashing start.  The Browns and Steelers played a defensive game in which both quarterbacks sustained possibly significant injuries.

Ben Roethlisberger was sacked right before halftime and was sandwiched in-between two Browns defenders.  His leg was twisted in the process and he said he thought it was broken.  Roethlisberger is without a d oubt the toughest QB in the league and after halftime returned to the game and played through his high ankle sprain with limited mobility he still led his Steelers to a 14-3 victory.  Starting center Maurkice Pouncey also left the game with a high ankle sprain.

On the other side, the Browns had three players leave the game with concussion.  Starting fullback Owen Marecic, tight end Benjamin Watson and Colt McCoy will all be monitored for post-concussion symptoms.  McCoy came into the game with a sprained knee, but moved well early in the game.  In the fourth quarter he took a devastating hit scrambling outside the pocket from one James Harrison.

You may remember Harrison from being fined numerous times for helmet-to-helmet hits including two hits against Josh Cribbs and Mohammed Massaquoi last season.  Obviously, he hasn’t been deterred by the 100,000 or so reasons the league has given him to avoid helmet-to-hekmet collision.  McCoy rolled out and threw a dump off pass to Hardesty and then was given an obvious intentional shot to the head by Harrison.

Harrison’s excuse this time is that McCoy was out of the pocket.  McCoy was out on the groung lifeless for over a minute.  The Brown’s training staff has been criticized for the handling of his concussion and treated my McCoy for an injury to his left hand.  Backup Wallace was sent in for a play, completed a pass, and McCoy was back in.

McCoy’s father even chimed in saying his son couldn’t remember the play.  He also said the Browns did a terrible job in conducting the proper precautionary tests to determine if his son was capable of going back in the game.  In McCoy’s first play back, he threw an interception in the red zone that may have cost the Browns the game.

The NFL has placed a heavy emphasis on protecting defenseless players for head-to-head contact that leads to these kinds of injuries.  Right now Harrison is the leagues biggest repeat offender.  In my oppinion an example must be made or esle the league is just acting like they want to prevent head injuries.  Harrison has clearly shown that fines will not make him consider safety while on the field.