If these remarks from Polamalu are accurate, I’d say he just doesn’t get it. As a matter of fact, his comments could easily be spun to make him look like a dirty player. I’ve watched replays from the weekend that got all of this rolling and in all cases, I’d say the defensive player was headhunting. Further, as far as his teammate Harrison is concerned, I’d say that poor tackling technique was being used.
No one is telling defensive players not to hit. What’s pretty clearly being communicated is that defensive players shouldn’t be using their heads as a weapon and they shouldn’t be targeting opposing players heads as the contact point. The NFL certainly bears some blame here because they were pretty lax about enforcing calls like “spearing” in the first place.
But that doesn’t mean they are trying to turn the game into soccer. Polamalu isn’t doing himself any favors and, as I stated about his teammate Harrison, if he’s as good as he and all his fans say he is, he should be able to adjust pretty easily to not leading with his helmet when making contact. Heck, he can even look to a play that Harrison was penalized on this past weekend as an example. The call was for a late hit, not because he hit Drew Brees too hard or because he led with his helmet.
Frankly, I think he needs to quit whining and just play the game.