Want to know how to stop Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton from scoring and, by extension, dancing? Well, sit back and let former New England Patriots safety and Super Bowl-winner Rodney Harrison fill you in...
"The defense is different from when I came in the league back in '94, the mentality is different," Harrison said Thursday, while appearing on "The Dan Patrick Show." "You let a quarterback score, you let him dance, and you see it time and time again on film. If I was playing against Cam Newton, I would try to take him out. I would try to take him out."
What was that, Rodney?
"I would try to hurt him," Harrison said. "I would go right to his knees. That's the goal. You want to knock him out -- that might be the difference between winning and losing the Super Bowl."
It's not all that surprising to hear Harrison espouse the virtues of intentional injury when it comes to stopping an opponent - he was widely considered to be one of the dirtiest, if not the outright dirtiest, player in the league during his time in the NFL.
Harrison of course fell back on the old "this only happened back in the day" line, as if that somehow excused the notion of attempting to cause bodily injury to a fellow human being. He then later tried to clarify, saying that he'd only try to injure Cam when he gets outside the pocket and becomes "a running back."
OK, Rodney.
Winning the Super Bowl is huge. It means, well, just about everything to, well, just about everyone. But it's a game. At the end of the day, it's a game. Injuring Newton in order to win is not something to glorify - it's reprehensible.
Sure, the league was different when Harrison played. Does that have any bearing on today or Super Bowl 50? No.
Thankfully, Panthers tight end Greg Olsen was willing to address the ridiculousness of Harrison's comments so that we don't have to:
#Panthers TE Greg Olsen on Rodney Harrison saying he'd try to hurt Cam: "I think that’s uncalled for and I think it’s somewhat embarrassing"
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) February 3, 2016
