The Pittsburgh Steelers made no secret that they thought linebacker James Harrison was treated too harshly when the NFL fined him $75,000 this season, and so the NFL’s decision to fine Raiders defensive lineman Richard Seymour $25,000 for smacking Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was practically begging for a complaint out of Pittsburgh about double standards.
But when given an opportunity to offer a reaction to the fine, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin told reporters he isn’t going to get into it.
“None. I don’t have a reaction. I tend to focus on things that are relevant to our team,” Tomlin said, per SteelersLounge.com. “That’s between Richard Seymour and the NFL office.”
Harrison argues that what Seymour did is worse than what Harrison himself did, and several people inside the Steelers organization have said they don’t think Harrison should have been fined at all for his hit on Browns receiver Mohamed Massaquoi. So it would be easy for the Steelers to pounce on the fact that Seymour paid just one-third the price for his infraction that Harrison paid for his.
Tomlin, however, is taking a pass on chiming in on league discipline, at least when it’s not for one of his players.
