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          NFL Nation

          James Harrison taunting Roger Goodell

          Sep 10, 2014
          • Scott BrownESPN Pittsburgh Steelers reporter
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            • Covered Steelers for six years for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
            • Author of five books, including "Heaven Sent: The Heather Miller Story," which highlights the friendship a young girl with cancer developed with several Steelers players
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          PITTSBURGH -- Former Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison, who was fined heavily by Roger Goodell during his playing days, is firing back at the embattled NFL commissioner.

          Harrison wrote to Goodell's Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon:

          Harrison, who officially retired as a Steeler last Friday, was not as rhythmic in several subsequent posts but no less subtle when directly addressing Goodell, who is under heavy criticism for his handling of the Ray Rice suspension subsequent to his arrest for aggravated assault.

          Steelers players were the only ones who didn't collectively vote in favor of the collective bargaining agreement that was approved in 2011 because of their unhappiness with Goodell -- and what they saw as his heavy-handed ways in meting out discipline.

          The player-safety initiative that Goodell enacted in 2010 put him on a collision course with Harrison, one of the most feared players in the NFL. Harrison was fined a total of $120,000 for helmet-to-helmet hits or unnecessary roughness that season.

          Goodell suspended the five-time Pro Bowler for a game late in the 2011 season after a helmet-to-helmet hit on Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy. Harrison became the first player to miss a game because of repeated violations of the rule that prohibits above-the-shoulder hits on a player deemed defenseless.

          Harrison had blasted Goodell in a 2011 Men's Journal story, calling him a "devil," among other things. He later apologized for his remarks.

          With Goodell receiving intense criticism for not taking a harder stance against Rice after the former Baltimore Ravens running back assaulted his now-wife in an Atlantic City, New Jersey, hotel elevator, Harrison has been taunting Goodell via Twitter.