Hits have just kept on coming for James Harrison and Steelers

He made the most spectacular defensive play in Super Bowl history, as well as the most notorious hits of this NFL season.

Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison prefers to look at both of those things the same way — yesterday’s news.

Asked Tuesday about his 100-yard interception return in Super Bowl XLIII against Arizona, Harrison brushed it off.

“That was then,” he said. “This is a totally different year.”

And it’s a season in which he’s been a little lighter in the wallet, as he was fined a league-high $125,000 for helmet-to-helmet hits — among them a $75,000 wallop to Cleveland receiver Mohamed Massaquoi.

So angered was Harrison by that particular fine, he flirted with the idea of retirement, and at Super Bowl XLV media day Tuesday took a sarcastic swipe at Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“Lay pillows down where I tackle them so they don’t get hurt when they hit the ground, Mr. Goodell,” he said.

When the Steelers played Seattle for the Lombardi Trophy five years ago, Pittsburgh linebacker Joey Porter made headlines with his bombastic tough talk (and the Steelers made good on that by winning.). Harrison is less comical and more measured, but he’s likely to attract more attention in these days leading up to the game.

The 2008 NFL defensive player of the year, Harrison led the Steelers with 10½ sacks this season, also forcing six fumbles and intercepting two passes.

He said the fines this season had no effect on the way he plays the game.

“You’re looking at maybe five or six plays in the course of 900, 1,000 plays a year, or 7,000 or 8,000 plays over the course of my career. And they’re trying to pick out five or six plays from this previous year that were questionable to them?

“They needed somebody to implement their rule, and they decided to come make it me.”

Echoing the sentiments of a lot of defensive players around the league, Harrison said the system is skewed. Offensive players “can do a lot of dirty things” without being fined or even flagged, he said, whereas defensive players are vilified.

“The league is doing whatever they need to do that helps them make more money,” he said. “If you hit Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, and you concuss them and they can’t play the next game, a lot of people might not tune in to see that. It’s whatever makes them more money.”

Not surprisingly, several of Harrison’s teammates are of like mind.

Fellow linebacker James Farrior said the fines were frustrating “because I don’t think guys knew what the NFL was looking for. We don’t know what they were trying to avoid.”

Said defensive end Brett Keisel: “Obviously, we were all behind James — not to the point where we were going to pay his fines, but we were all behind him. The biggest thing is everything needs to be consistent as far as where you can hit the quarterback.... Once that all gets leveled out, hopefully all this nonsense will be over with.”

Some Steelers fans, in fact, did try to pay Harrison’s fines. He said he received between $200 to $300 in checks, which he matched, then donated it all to his foundation for underprivileged families.

“It’s a grown man’s game,” he said. “You go out there and you play with other grown men…

“If you’re out there, expect to be hit. If you’re scared, then maybe you don’t need to be out there.”

sam.farmer@latimes.com

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