Larry Brown Sports

Bernard Pollard was one of the key members of the Baltimore Ravens’ Super Bowl-winning defense last season. Despite his great season last year, the team released him in March. He signed with the Tennessee Titans, and it sounds like there are some hard feelings between him and some people associated with the team.

During an interview with Norris & Davis Show on 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore, Pollard said he was “stunned a little bit” over his release. He said he would not be joining the team in DC for its celebratory visit to the White House, explaining that he already had a family vacation scheduled. But he says he would not have made the trip anyway even if he didn’t have a conflict.

“I’m not gonna be there,” Pollard told the hosts, via Pro Football Talk. “I’m either going to have someone get my ring or have them ship it to me. I gotta sit this one out, man. I actually have a vacation with my family and then I’m coming back to get [my ring]. If I didn’t have a vacation, I wouldn’t come anyway.”

“If I didn’t have a vacation, I still wouldn’t want to go. I’m not sour,” said Pollard.

“It’s not my teammates. It’s not my teammates at all. I would celebrate with them any time, any day of the week I would celebrate with them. But at the end of the day, I know what happened, I know what took place. . . . I’m sorry, but I just don’t want to be in the room with certain people.”

Pollard was going to count for $3.5 million against the salary cap this season, which doesn’t seem like a ton for what he would do. He said he believes the story GM Ozzie Newsome told him regarding his release.

Pollard led the Ravens in tackles last season, but he isn’t great in pass coverage. The big reason that seems to account for his release is what appears to be a rocky relationship with coach John Harbaugh. The team reportedly had a near mutiny situation in October, and Pollard along with Ed Reed were said to have been the strongest opponents to Harbaugh. Reed signed with another team while Pollard was released. That likely explains his release and bitter comments.

Baltimore Ravens safety Bernard Pollard is known to many as “The Patriot Killer.” When he was with the Kansas City Chiefs, Pollard was the guy who hit Brady’s knee and tore his ACL in 2008. In 2010, when he was with the Houston Texans, Pollard was in the general area of where Wes Welker ripped up his knee at the end of the season. Last year, he made the tackle on Rob Gronkowski that injured his ankle and made him close to a non-factor in the Super Bowl.

On Sunday, Pollard took out yet another Patriot with his helmet-to-helmet hit on running back Stevan Ridley. The hit was perfectly legal since Ridley was a ball carrier and not a receiver, but the whole “Patriot Killer” thing is starting to get kind of eery. What’s even more eery is that a writer named Steve Roney from Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic called the injury.

Calling it right now: Pollard takes out Stevan Ridley. RB is the only position he hasn’t decimated yet. Latest CSN: bit.ly/WcmLgF

— Steve Roney (@Steve_Roney) January 18, 2013

Coincidence or not, that is some pretty crazy stuff. Pollard has now taken out arguably the best Patriots player at every skill position on offense. He certainly took out their best quarterback in 2008 and tight end in 2012, and Welker and Ridley were probably the best at their position at the time of their injuries.

Whether you believe in curses and jinxes or not, I’m sure there are very few New England fans out there who get excited about the Patriots taking on a team that Pollard is on.

H/T SI Hot Clicks

Ravens safety Bernard Pollard had plenty to say about the replacement officials on Thursday morning, and very little of it was kind. During an interview with the “Toucher and Rich Show” on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, Pollard ranted about how the officials are in way over their heads and blasted Roger Goodell for compromising the integrity of the game.

“These guys need to be out,” Pollard said. “I respect them as men — they were put in a position they can’t handle. But who is going to turn down an NFL officiating gig when you probably get paid more than you got paid in the lingerie league or whatever. Who is going to turn that down? But when it’s all said and done, the commissioner needs to do something about it.

“This is way out of their league. It’s too fast, guys are too crafty, and they cannot control the game. My issue is we have a commissioner that is jumping on board to hammer every other issue down in the NFL. He is jumping on board to get meetings with players when things are happening, but we have something on hand that is messing up the integrity of the league and nothing is being done about it.”

Read The Rest of the Story…

There are many schools of thought surrounding the Saints bounty program and the way in which Roger Goodell has handled it. On one side, you have people like Eli Manning who believe there is no place in football for rewarding a player for injuring an opponent. On the other, you have someone like LaDainian Tomlinson who doesn’t even think the Saints should have been punished. Bernard Pollard is one of those Tomlinson people. In fact, he may even be one of those James Harrison people.

“It really has gotten way out of hand,” Pollard said during an interview with KILT in Houston. “You’re penalizing a coach for coming out of his pocket to say, ‘If somebody hits this guy — not hit him illegally, hit him — and take him out’ … First game we played the Houston Texans they (played) without Andre Johnson. We were happy. You know what I’m saying? It’s just one of those things where nobody’s trying to be mean, but at the end of the day if you don’t have a good player, that is a edge you have to win, or to help your offense. So it’s gotten way out of hand.”

It isn’t just the bounty punishment that Pollard takes issue with. He did add that he doesn’t want “to say anything against Roger Goodell” — so he’s saying “with all due respect” — but Bernard also believes flags for illegal hits have reached a ridiculous point as well.

“Well, when a receiver catches the ball, he’s trying to get to the ground,” he said. “But we were already in that position first — now … helmet-to-helmet, but now you’re penalizing the defender and give them 15 yards plus the reception. It’s getting out of hand. This is not powderpuff football, this is not flag football. This is a violent sport.”

Guys like Pollard and Harrison can complain all they want, but the rules aren’t going to change. If anything, the league will continue to do more to protect its players. Those who can’t learn to adjust will continue to cost their teams.

Photo credit: Rafael Suanes-US PRESSWIRE

Bernard Pollard has no interest in playing for a team that was eliminated by the eventual Super Bowl champions. Oftentimes when a team is knocked out of the playoffs in any sport, they root for the team that ousted them so that they know they were beaten by the best. When you lose a game on a missed 32-yard field goal, it becomes more difficult to think that way. Pollard is the man who was responsible for Brady’s torn ACL in 2008. He also was a member of the Texans defense when Wes Welker blew out his knee during the playoffs two years ago. And on Sunday, Pollard was the one who made the tackle that resulted in Rob Gronkowski injuring his ankle. He’s hurt many a Patriot, and he wants the Giants to do the same.

“I just hope (the Giants) just put a thrashing on the Patriots,” Pollard said during an interview with KILT in Houston. “I really do. To lose to a team like that the way we played. We played a good game. You gotta look at the experience of the team. You gotta look at what do the Giants have? They got a front four that is relentless. They got a secondary that is really, really good. They got a linebacking core that has been with them.

“The dinking and the dunking man? It’s just not going to happen. (The Patriots) are going to have to take shots down the field. I think the Giants watch our film and watch the film of the season. They gotta take away their big time players. (Rob) Gronkowski I think he is coming off that ankle, so I don’t know if he will be 100%.”

I guess that means Pollard feels the same way teammate Brendon Ayanbadejo feels about the loss on Sunday.  As far as the dinking and dunking is concerned, it has worked well for the Patriots all season long. Don’t expect them to have some sort of huge change in philosophy.  Pollard is right about the Giants front four, and the Patriots will certainly focus on stopping that over the next two weeks. Expect the talking to continue until the batch of sour grapes in the Ravens’ locker room becomes stale.