A closer look at James Harrison’s playing, and talking, history vs. the Patriots
After 14 years in Pittsburgh, James Harrison has found a new home in New England.
The 39-year-old veteran linebacker, who was released by the Steelers Saturday, signed a one-year deal with the Patriots Tuesday. Despite being used sparingly by his former team this season — playing just 40 snaps over the course of five games — Harrison has said he still wants to contribute. The two-time Super Bowl champ told Michele Tafoya earlier this month that he wouldn’t have re-signed with the Steelers, if he knew his participation was going to be so limited.
“Oh, yeah,” he said, when Tafoya asked if he would have been open to signing elsewhere. “Who wants to not play?”
Despite his reduced usage, the five-time Pro Bowler has proven he’s still capable when given the opportunity. He recorded a team-high five sacks last season, which is a drop in the bucket compared to numbers from his peak seasons with the Steelers.
Harrison recorded 54 sacks from 2007 to 2012, including a career-high 16 during the 2008 season. Throughout his time in Pittsburgh, however, the Steelers haven’t had much luck against the Patriots’ offense. New England holds the head-to-head advantage, 11-3, since 2002.
Harrison’s best performance, stats-wise, came during the second of those Steelers’ wins. During a regular season game at Gillette Stadium in 2008, he recorded two sacks, seven tackles, and three assisted tackles. There is one slight addendum, though: New England’s quarterback was Matt Cassel, because Tom Brady was sidelined for the year with an ACL injury.
In all other contests against the Patriots, Harrison logged just one sack and a combined 12 tackles and seven assisted tackles. Regardless of the outcome, he was not shy about his pugnacious attitude.
New England Patriots vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, Dec. 7, 2007.
“I hate those [expletive],” he told Men’s Journal in 2012. “Especially those two clowns [Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi] who talked about me after the fines, saying I’m dirty. [Expletive], Harrison was the dirtiest player ever, a steroid cheater who was known by the whole world to be a headhunter and late hitter. And Bruschi’s an idiot, straight-up simple. I’d like to meet them both in a dark alley.”
“I should have another ring,” he told MJ‘s Paul Solotaroff. “We were the best team in football in 2004, but the Patriots, who we beat during the regular season, stole our signals and picked up 90 percent of our blitzes. They got busted for it later, but, hey, they’re Goodell’s boys, so he slapped ’em $500,000 and burned the tapes. Was he going to rescind their Super Bowls? Man, hell no!”
Harrison appeared to change his tune a year later, when he was released by the Steelers in 2013. Asked about the idea of joining the Patriots, he told ESPN: “Of course it would be nice to play with Tom Brady. I mean, who wouldn’t want to?”
Brady appears to have only grown on Harrison. The day of his signing, he posted a selfie of the two of them with the lighthearted caption, “Finally… A teammate that’s older than me!”
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