Harrison's loss of Offensive Player of the Week award indicative of today's NFL

By Don Delco
NoLogoNeeded.com Staff Writer

On Wednesday, the NFL announced the AFC Offensive Player of the Week was Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

In Pittsburgh's 37-36 last-second win over Green Bay on Sunday, Roethlisberger became the 10th quarterback since 1950 to throw for 500 yards or more. He finished 26-for-46 passing for 503 yards and three touchdowns.

Earlier in the day, Browns running back Jerome Harrison rushed for the third most games all-time in an NFL game with 286 and three touchdowns.

Although Harrison didn't win the award, he said all the right things Wednesday.

"I just found out Ben got it," Harrison said. "He deserved it. He's a household name. He's won Super Bowls. He made a hell of a play to win the game. I'm not mad about it. I don't play for accolades anyway. I won't miss one second of sleep over it."

Harrison took the high road. Fine. But No Logo Needed needs to get something off its chest. Harrison's accomplishment was more impressive than Roethlisberger's.

Why? Well, the Steelers game-winning drive was aided by three penalties (two defensive holding and one illegal contact) by the Packers defenders. The NFL has become a quarterback and wide receiver league. Those calls are perfect examples of how rule changes in recent years have benefited those two positions.

Meanwhile, what has changed in the running game? Bigger, faster, stronger. Both the offensive and defensive players can claim that. The concepts are the same. No rule changes have been made to aid the offensive line or running backs. A hold is still a hold. To make matters worse, as teams establish the run early in games, defensive coordinators adjust. The Chiefs did just that as they put nine players "in the box" or within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Harrison continued to gash Kansas City.

Only twice has someone rushed for more than 286 yards in an NFL game with the most being 296. Adrian Peterson set the record in 2007 with 296 yards ahead of Jamal Lewis in 2003 with 295.

The ground game and professional football have been inseparable for a long, long time. Running is a key component to the cliche formula that to "win in the NFL you have to run the ball and stop the run."

The reliance on the forward pass is more of a "modern" concept. Consider, six NFL games before 1950 had zero passing attempts. The games with the most passes attempted for both teams occurred after 1987.

No doubt, Roethlisberger's accomplishment is impressive, but did only two other running backs aside from Harrison in NFL history had a better single-game performance and it was only by nine and 10 yards, respectively.

Yet to take a similar view as Harrison, there is no reason to get mad. Harrison's Browns beat Roehlisberger's Steelers earlier this month. That makes up for any award snub.

  December 24, 2009 at 9:09 AM

Comments

Thank you Don. The only reason QB #7 should be a house hold name is that every house hold should know that he is an overrated, overhyped piece of trash that can't read a defense. Seriously, when you are sacked 46 times a year, it means you can't read a defense and don't know where you are supposed to go with the ball. I have never seen such an average player get so much hype. Or should I just start calling him Harold Minor II.

  December 24, 2009 at 10:17 AM by Brandon

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