Forum.RttP{Vinateri makes the kick...AND IT'S GOOD!!!}

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http://fantasygames2.sandboxplus.com/2005/...s/player_main.asp?sport=NFL&id=1141

http://www.projo.com/sports/tomcurran/projo_20060203_03curran.1d1b14f8.html

Tom E. Curran: Not the same without Pats' Harrison in spotlight

01:00 AM EST on Friday, February 3, 2006

Super Bowl week. Rodney Harrison's week.

His week to announce the New England Patriots mindset for the planet's most watched annual sporting event.

His week to defend the honor of teammates, the organization, the six-state region.

His week to speak sincerely -- eyes boring into you -- about what it means to be right here, right now.

His week to hear a whispered slight from five miles away, prick up his ears like a Doberman and begin barking furiously, vowing vengeance.

His week to stand under the confetti, arm in a sling and weep tears of joy as he did in 2003.

His week to put the exclamation point on a win with a game-ending pick and dance as he did in 2004.

Even though he was only with the Patriots for two of their three titles, he was born to this stage.

Instead, he's half a continent away, rehabbing in Foxboro. And instead of square-jawed and steely-eyed Rodney refusing to laugh at Freddie Mitchell's attempt at Super Bowl humor, we get the Steelers Joey Porter) a man who missed the start of last season after taking a bullet in the buttocks -- waxing ineloquent about Seattle's Jerramy Stevens.

The Patriots are off the front pages. The celebrated safety in this matchup is Troy Polamalu, a player with three years of service in the league that some are calling the best in the NFL.

And Harrison's response to this is . . . serenity now.

"This league is about what have you done for me lately," said Harrison without bitterness. "Right now, he is the best player in the league on defense. Each week, who's coming up with big plays? And what happens the next time they play? He still goes out there and makes plays and wreaks havoc. He's a player with unbelievable instincts who studies more than anyone on the team and the guy is fast, tough and hits like a linebacker."

Since suffering serious damge to his knee in the season's third game, Harrison has been in the hardest trial of his career. His perspective on invincibility is different.

"It's not hard (to watch other teams involved in the Super Bowl) for the simple fact that who really and truly thinks we're supposed to go every year?" he said. "Is it disappointing? Yes. But I couldn't even finish the season. I think of my teammates who worked so hard and came so close. Whenever you have high expectations and don't achieve them, there is disappointment. If we stayed healthy, we're in the Super Bowl. There's no better team when we're all there and we still came a few plays from going to the AFC Championship."

It can be argued that over the last 10 seasons, Harrison has been the most productive defensive back in football. He's the only DB in history to record more 30 interceptions and 25 sacks. He's made more than 1,000 regular-season tackles. Despite that, he's only been to two Pro Bowls,and it's an accepted fact his style has something to do with that.

He is an intimidator, a player who goes right to and sometimes over the line with his aggressiveness. He is a dream teammate, a nightmare opponent. In his first few weeks with the Patriots, he roughed up teammates during training camp and said, memorably, that he wasn't there to make friends.

He didn't. He created disciples. First, he took rookie Eugene Wilson under his wing in Wilson's rookie year of 2003. The next year, he was the hawk for the whole secondary when the Patriots lost their veteran corners. Another Super Bowl win followed.

He's accomplished so much already and the road back to an elite level is so long, Harrison admits he nearly pulled the plug on coming back.

"There was a time I wasn't sure," he said. "In the heat of stress and the ups and downs, I thought about (retiring)."

His wife Erika helped keep him moored.

"She said, I support whatever decision you make," Harrison recalled. "She asked me, 'What do you want to do?' I told her I felt like I want to play. And I told her to go home with the kids, to Atlanta. That I'd stay here four days and rehab then come home at the end of the week. She wanted to stay with me. So we all stayed here.

"You can have support from anyone else, but if you don't have support from your wife or the person you rely on constantly it makes for a long comeback and offseason."

The rehab, he admitted, is arduous. As much as four hours each day at the stadium devoted to strengthening the leg.

"It is a lot of work," he said. "I won't sit and pretend it's not. You want to come back from an injury like this you have to be totally, totally committed."

Harrison believes that collective mindset extends to the organization which is this week watching an event its come to own in this decade.

"When you fall short of your goals, hunger and passion stirs up inside you," he said. "You work harder and that burning desire comes back. You look at league and say, 'Know what . . .?' "

Harrison doesn't finish the thought but does say something which sounds quite like a warning.

"Nothing's fun about a hungry bunch of Patriots