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The James Harrison Show

Chris Stout |Nov 06,2007

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The James Harrison Show

On the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first touchdown play against the Baltimore Ravens, Ben Roethlisberger refused to go down after initial contact. He spun free from Trevor Pryce and found Heath Miller in the endzone. It was pretty. For touchdown number three, Ben again shook off a diving defender. He found Nate Washington in the endzone for another beautiful score. Big Ben threw five TDs in the first half, but his astounding output was eclipsed by the monster performance turned in by linebacker James Harrison.

The James Harrison Show

I’ve been hyping James Harrison for months, ever since the moment the Steelers showed Joey Porter the door. During the 2007 NFL Draft, every analyst on ESPN kept saying that the newly drafted LBs (Timmons and Woodley) would be immediately inserted in the starting lineup because of the void left by Joey Porter’s departure.

Well, as I predicted back in May, James Harrison has filled the void quite nicely. Harrison. He planted his helmet on the football when he chased down Steve McNair and caused the first fumble of the game. After the ensuing scrum, Harrison came out with the football.

When the Steelers punted the ball for the second time, James Harrison went after Yamon Figures and nearly took off his head. There was a penalty on the play and the Steelers had to punt again. Ed Reed fielded the next punt and James Harrison crushed him. The ball went flying 30 feet in the air and Lawrence Timmons came up with it.

On Baltimore’s third fumble of the first quarter (caused by Troy Polamalu), James Harrison was five yards behind the line of scrimmage when the ball was handed off to Willis McGahee.

Harrison caused yet another fumble with about 10 minutes to go in the second quarter. He hit Steve McNair and the ball flew loose again. Willis McGahee picked the football up near his own endzone and barely managed to avoid a safety. Who tackled him? You guessed it -- James Harrison.

There’s no way James Harrison could do any more damage in the first half. These were my thoughts as Harrison picked off Steve McNair for his fourth turnover of the game. Simply ridiculous. Just for good measure, Harrison added a half sack before the end of the 2nd quarter.

James Harrison just dominated the entire game. He finished the game with nine tackles, 3.5 sacks, an interception and two force fumbles. Steve McNair will be having nightmares about The James Harrison Show for weeks.

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