Why The NFL Will Miss Harrison

Tomorrow, Patriots safety Rodney Harrison will announce his retirement from the NFL after 15 seasons. Today, let’s discuss Harrison from the view of an ex-player — someone one who loved his intensity and desire to play through the whistle — and explain why the game will miss him.

The Model

During the offseasons of my NFL career, I would often watch the way Pro Bowl safeties played the game and try to steal some of the techniques that made them top-level players.

As I went from year to year, I always found myself watching more and more tape of Harrison because I loved the way he played.

Harrison couldn’t walk into the NFL Combine in Indianapolis and turn heads with his 40 times, three-cone drills or some of the other nonsense that we seem to judge players on today.

But all you had to do was turn on the film and watch this guy play football the right way — even after the whistle had blown. He was a technician, he played with intensity and he definitely intimidated every player he came across — and I wanted to model that.

He didn’t have the overall skills of a guy like my former teammate Sean Taylor, or the ball-hawking ability of an Ed Reed, or even the overall game of a Troy Polamalu, but what Harrison had was much more valuable when I look at true football players.

And that’s how he played the game.

The Techniques

Harrison was good with his hands, and that may sound like nothing when we talk about the game, but as a defensive back, he used them as weapons.

He could cover tight ends and come down on the slot in blitz packages because he could use his hands to physically dominate opponents — and that has nothing to do with speed or how high you can jump. Watch the great corners in this league -- they all use their hands to force receivers to go where they want them to, not the other way around.

Harrison was a student of the game, and that’s one of the key reasons he was such a leader on the Patriots’ Super Bowl-champion teams.

He was rarely out of position, and because he knew the game so well, he could make plays on the football. It’s an underrated skill, but to last 15 seasons in the NFL, you have to be able to study offenses, know tendencies and be able to jump routes based off pre-snap reads.

Harrison was also a great tackler — and when he got to the point of impact, he arrived angry. I loved it. I loved to watch him tackle to try and put someone down for the count — because this isn’t Little League football on Sundays.

It’s violent and it’s nasty, and those are two words I believe can still be compliments in today’s league, where good hitting has almost been eliminated by flags and fines.

But beyond all that, the reason I watched film of Harrison and tried to emulate his game was his ability to intimidate and strike fear into his opponents.

The Intimidator

Too often, Harrison has been called a “cheap-shot artist.”

Why? Because he played all the way through the whistle? Because he could get under opponents’ skin?

Come on, let’s be honest. If he was on your team, you would have loved it — and I did.

Trust me, whenever we played the Patriots, the mere idea of Harrison playing in the middle of the field was on the minds of our offensive players. They knew he was going to be out there, and they also knew that if he got the chance, he was going to try and take them out of the game.

Folks, that’s football.

We can call it dirty, and we can say we turned up our noises at the TV whenever Harrison stuck the crown of his helmet into the backs of running backs and wide receivers. But at the end of the day, he made offensive players scared to have the ball in their hands.

That’s intimidation, and that’s why I loved watching him play.

I agree that age has most likely caught up to him, and he wouldn’t be the same player after all the injuries, but he’ll be missed in the Pats’ locker room.

Because beyond the fact he caused offensive players to keep their heads on a swivel at all times, he was a great defensive leader.

A 15-year career in this league is something to celebrate, and the league will miss Harrison — because he was one of the best when it came to intimidation. There aren’t enough players like him in today’s game.

He played with passion and played to win. What more do you need?

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