It Is What It Is
NEED TO KNOW
Follow WEEI.com football writer Christopher Price at twitter.com/cpriceNFL. In addition, get the latest WEEI.com updates at twitter.com/WEEI.
A WEEI.com Patriots Blog
WEEI.com Blog Network
RSS
Bernard Pollard calls entering into Patriots history once again ‘just a coincidence’ 01.21.13 at 12:06 am ET
By
Bernard Pollard made his presence felt against the Patriots once again, Sunday night. (AP)

Bernard Pollard made his presence felt against the Patriots once again, Sunday night. (AP)

Bernard Pollard managed to add to his already-lengthy history with the Patriots in his Ravens’ 28-13 AFC championship win over the Patriots on Sunday night in Foxboro.

Pollard was first introduced into Patriots lore when his tackle of Tom Brady in the 2008 season-opener ended the quarterback’s season due to a torn knee ligament.

Then, in ’10, the safety was credited with the tackle when Wes Welker tore up his knee in the final game of that season.

Last year it was a tackle of Rob Gronkowski in the AFC title game, hampering the tight end heading into the Super Bowl with a high ankle sprain.

This time, Pollard left his mark via a fourth-quarter hit of Pats running back Stevan Ridley with 12:55 in the game and hosts trailing by eight. The head-to-head tackle forced a game-changing fumble, while driving Ridley from the game with a head injury.

“It’s just a coincidence, I guess,” said Pollard when asked how he keeps finding himself involved in these Patriots’ injuries.

Talking about the specific hit to Ridley, which ultimately resulted in another Baltimore touchdown four plays later, Pollard said, “He got loose and for me as a safety, and for us as safeties, our job is to take down a guy. If you get to our level we have to hit you and I got a chance to kind of unload. In the moment we’re competitive, but right now we have to hope he’s OK.”

The Ridley fumble would be reviewed, but referee Bill Leavy upheld the decision, handing the Ravens the ball at New England’s 39 yard-line.

“What I saw was the receiver was going to the ground, had both legs off the ground, no body part was on the ground,” said Leavy in a pool report. “The ball hit his knee and dislodged from his hand before the rest of his body hit the ground, therefore it was a fumble and we confirmed it.”

“This is what it’s about, playing football, going out there hitting hard,” Pollard added. “We know what we signed up for. Anybody can drop on any play. It’s just about going and executing. When it’s all said and done, we want those guys to be OK and I hope [Ridley] is good.”

While Pollard was fairly diplomatic when it came to discussing the latest of his controversial plays against the Patriots, he was a bit more pointed when asked about Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s slide at the end of the second quarter.

Brady finished off a three-yard run by sliding down the Baltimore 7 yard-line in front of Baltimore safety Ed Reed. At the conclusion of the play, the QB lifted his leg, allowing for Brady’s foot to hit Reed in the upper-leg.

“You have to keep them legs down,” Pollard said. “We all know and understand what’s going on. As a quarterback when you go to slide we’re taught we can’t do anything. We kind of run it off. But when you come sliding, with your leg up in the air trying to kick somebody, that’s bullcrap. We talked to the ref. They saw it. You can’t deny it.”

Print  |  Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
  • Raider4Life

    A QB kick in a slide….. give me a break…. Pollard and the rest of The Ravens are low life pieces of s#!t…

  • Smith Jw 2

    Wow you being a raider fan should be very familiar with low life pieces of s#!t….

  • Scout4life87

    This coming from a raider fan lol

  • Xo45thvols

    Aww, does a cheap shot artist have hurt feelings about Brady sliding cleats up into Ed Reed? Suck it you hack. I wish Brady slid cleats up into Pollard. That’d be just a small amount of payback for his purposeful injuries to the Pats.

  • Suchanerdson

    you mad bro?

  • Crime & Punishment

    I’m not sure how Pollard missed this, considering he was on the field when it happened, but Brady actually went over to the Ravens huddle to apologize for having his legs up in the air during the slide.

  • Apriorwhisper365

    Too bad they did away with the bounty program.   

  • Brett

    helmet to helmet is not what football is about, that is called a dirty player Pollard has all ways been a dirty player.

  • D_biker24

    You’re embarrassing.

  • Sam Schwarz1991@yahoo.com

    Abybody else feek it’s time to invastagete pollard? 4 straight seasons he’s c SERIOUSLY injured a pattiot player. Coincidence is thrown out the window this guy is hurting players on purpose and needs to be held accountable

  • knowwhatyouretalkingabout

    Have you actually seen any of the Pollard hits on the Pats? Not one was intentional or dirty. Know what you’re talking about

  • Tom

    Again, have you ever SEEN the hits on the Pats by Pollard? Was pushed down into Brady’s knee, and was clean tackling on welker and gronk. People that listen to announcers and don’t actually see the plays shouldn’t talk about them. None were dirty. Ridley put his own head down and that’s why they hit helmets. Understand football.

  • Anonymous

    Terrible call on the Ridley play. A fumble cannot result frpm an illegal helmet to helmet hit.

  • Boston_Sports

    Pollard is a punk and the NFL needs to look at his body of work in the NFL and suspend and fine him for intentionally trying to hurt other players. Sadly, the NFL continues to allow a player like Pollard to “take out” other players on opposing teams. Pollards reasoning is coincidence. The Ravens must have a bounty system in place.

  • t sizzle

    WAY TO GO BP—HOWS THAT PATRIOT RAY LEWIS RETIREMENT PARTY WORKIN OUT?

  • t sizzle

    HEY RIDDLES RIDDLE ME THIS–HOWS THAT HEAD FEELIN    HAHAHAHAHAH

  • t sizzle

    hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

  • RP2151

    Don’t be hatin on Ed Reed because trust me Belicheck will be coming hard to sign him next year as a free agent, so get to love him!

  • RJK211

    They will never call helmet to helmet on a running back cause they are not defenseless and see it coming and many times do their own helmet to helmet, get over it people

  • Rander7823

    Brady kicks like a girl and plays like a girl

  • idoknowwhatimtalkingabout

    Did you see the hit he put on Welker?  You know….the one he got penalized and probably will be fined for?  Stop trolling and act like Pollard is Mr. Innocent….but no worries…karma is a b***h

  • tsizzleisequaltolowlife

    Wow…way to keep it classy…you must be one of those welfare chumps eating popcorn off of mommy’s couch while watching your skirt wearing Daddy

  • classlessnesslookspitifulonyou

    It’s amazing you are all talking about the Ridley hit but fail to mention the hit on Welker, which was ILLEGAL and most likely be getting a fine for…shows how ignorance is inbred in these Ravens fans

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LGMZMQ5VVG2F7E4X3OUBPRFFZM Jeff S

    He’s a goon. In 10 years he’ll be sitting in a dim room drooling in a cup for leading with head.

  • Anonymous

    I asked the Ref while he was walking off the field why he didn’t call a helmet-to-helmet hit.  He and the head of officials looked up at me with sort of a “we missed it” look.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AH7XAJNXUIR5EHQFQYYXGGRZHA Tommy Boy

    They don’t have cleats you moron.  Look at the replay.  Plus, if you wouldn’t have to worry about helmet hits it would be a different story.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AH7XAJNXUIR5EHQFQYYXGGRZHA Tommy Boy

    The only way they get rid of the intentional helmet to helmet stuff is when they start kicking players off the field for a few plays.  The impact of having Pollard off the field for 5 to 10 plays would be great and then coaches would have to stop their thugs from doing damage to another player.  The Ravens play as thugs, ”Suggs Thugs”, and the NFL needs to change the rules soon because fining the players isn’t working.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AH7XAJNXUIR5EHQFQYYXGGRZHA Tommy Boy

    Not very classy!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AH7XAJNXUIR5EHQFQYYXGGRZHA Tommy Boy

    Can someone explain why after the Pats play the Ravens about half the team is on the sideline with some sort of injury?  Talib’s wasn’t due to the Ravens.

  • Rander7823

    So just because the Pats don’t have anyone who knows how to hit and a QB who was afraid to put his head down and scramble for a critical first down we need to put flags on everyone? You need someone like Bruschi back.
    I think even Mark Sanchez could have gotten that first down.

  • Rylandc

    its not illegal helmet to helmet .at that point he’s nothing more than a running back and more or less fair game!!!!!

  • Jimmy Freeze

    The NFL doesn’t really want to fix it or they would have…even in the NHL, a player like Pollard would get a 50 game suspension for his obvious intent to injure.  These fines are a joke…the NFLPA runs to the liberal court to take away the punishments that Goodell tried to put in for the Saints.  It all boils down to the violence sells…and the owners and the players don’t want to really fix it.  We’ve been having the same conversation since 1976 when Jack Tatum paralyzed Daryl Stingley…nothing’s changed in 36 years…

    …Then there’s the HGH testing issue…you have guys like Suggs and Lewis recovering from injuries that 5 years ago are full 12-month recoveries, in 3-5 months…but, there’s no illegal doping going on???  We are pooning Lance Armstrong on Oprah for doing blood transfusions and taking EPO…what do you think these NFL players are taking to make these accelerated recoveries…

  • Mary Glynn

    Pollack might be happy now But I fear in 4 5 10 years all those leading head buts he has been doing will come back to haunt him. So keep it up Mr Pollack Just remember some day someone will hit you. Hope the 49″ers takes care of you. I hope you come home losers. They talk about class. I wonder how the foul mouth your team mates spats.. Now thats class> lets see if he fined. Come on Comish you fined a jets coach last year

  • Mary Glynn

    we don’t know if he has imjured other players on other teams. But since he is always using his head we will be seeing hem in a few years. Payback He may have a bunch of money them but his brain will be mush.

  • Mary Glynn

    you won a game you going to big party. You don’t have that ring yet

  • Mary Glynn

    How is his hehad doing.. Who get the last laugh in 5 or 10 years when Pollacck brain is mush

  • Mary Glynn

    you wish How many rings does he have . You post like a girl.. A woman poster..You could not even hold his jocok strap…. Who was crying last week

  • Patriot fan

    You hit Ridley helmet to helmet and got away with it…so can’t your blessings and move on…

  • Newbedford

    I guess you and I were the only ones in the country who saw that…coincidence that this thug hits and maims..what a joke..

  • Newbedford

    After his next game he can do his prison time

Latest on Twitter

2013 PATRIOTS DRAFT PICKS

2013 NFL DRAFT

Patriots Headlines
NFL Headlines
Tips & Feedback

Verify