What did Ben Roethlisberger actually say about Mike Tomlin that has Joey Porter and so many other ex-Steelers all hot and bothered?
Not much, as it turns out.
Back in December, Roethlisberger stated on his podcast what all but the most delusional Tomlin apologists were saying: “Maybe it’s a clean-house time. I have a lot of respect for Coach Tomlin. Maybe it’s best for him, too. Maybe a fresh start for him is what’s best.”
That’s what all this fuss is about?
Ah, not exactly.
It’s really about players using Porter’s bashing of Roethlisberger to unleash pent-up feelings about Roethlisberger and perhaps reveal their jealousies in the process. Porter obviously doesn’t like him. Several ex-teammates — not many prominent ones — went to social media to agree with Porter.
Well, guess what? I didn’t particularly like Roethlisberger, either, when I covered him and did a radio spot with him, and I’m pretty sure the feeling was mutual, if he thought of me at all.
Who cares?
Show me the rings.
More to the point, who cares if Porter, Mason Rudolph and ex-Steelers lineman Mike Adams didn’t like him? This isn’t the Nice Guy Olympics. It’s pro sports. Nice guys don’t always win. Cam Heyward, on whose podcast Porter vented, is a really nice guy and a great player. He has one playoff win in his 15-year career.
I don’t really care whether Ben ever invited teammates to his offseason home (which he did, multiple times) or signed their kids’ mini-helmets when he was a rookie. I care about whether he sacrificed his body to the cause, which he most assuredly did, and won football games.
True, he didn’t win enough big ones in the second half of his career, but even Porter basically admitted he wouldn’t have a ring without Roethlisberger. Neither would Tomlin or Bill Cowher.
I had to laugh when people pointed out that Roethlisberger played poorly in Super Bowl XL. He did — but he had one of the great three-game runs in playoff history leading up to that game. The Steelers do not get there without him.
It’s nice to be nice to the nice, as Frank Burns once said on “M*A*S*H*,” but pro sports are more about what Vince Lombardi said: “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”
And jerks often win. Did you watch “The Last Dance?” It sure seemed like most of Michael Jordan’s teammates thought he was a jerk. But they also seemed to like it when he had the ball in his hands for the last shot. They didn’t mind all the money and rings he earned them, either (show me the rings).
You think Terry Bradshaw was beloved in the 1970s Steelers’ locker room? In 1989, the LA Times reported that Bradshaw had made “virtually no contact with teammates” since his retirement six years earlier.
“I wasn’t that close to any of my teammates,” Bradshaw said. “I didn’t find anyone to become a best friend. We don’t stay in touch.”
That was the same year Bradshaw went into the Hall of Fame, and instead of choosing someone from his playing career as his presenter, he chose broadcast partner Verne Lundquist.
Who cares? I’m guessing Bradshaw’s teammates loved it when he was riddling the Cowboys (twice) and the Rams in those final three Super Bowls.
Think of it this way: Was Roethlisberger a great leader and teammate when he was taking his team down the field on the greatest game-winning drive in Super Bowl history? I’m gonna say yes.
The truly hilarious part in all this is that Porter seemed to believe he was breaking news by telling the world Roethlisberger was a bad teammate when he joined the Steelers.
You know who actually broke that news?
Roethlisberger. That’s who. This was him back in 2015, talking to Dan Pompei of Bleacher Report: “I’d be the first to admit I wasn’t a good teammate early in my career. With time, you understand you can’t keep being a selfish player or person.”
If it matters to anyone to balance the story here, then-Steelers guard Ramon Foster mentioned Roethlisberger’s “devotion” to his teammates in the LA Times piece.
“It’s not just him working on himself,” Foster said. “He wants to help others be better.”
Was Foster lying, or did he just have a different experience than Rudolph, Adams and all the others who backed Porter via social media Wednesday? Hey, sometimes guys are jealous of the quarterback, jealous of the star. That has always been true in the NFL.
Quarterbacks make the big money, after all. They get all the adulation. I’m sure some burned with envy when Steelers fans lavished Roethlisberger with a lengthy ovation when he took that victory lap after his last home game.
There were plenty of others who backed Roethlisberger in that Bleacher Report story.
“He goes out of the way to help the young guys out,” receiver Markus Wheaton said.
The idea that Roethlisberger didn’t spend time outside the building with teammates is a lie. He was close to tight end Heath Miller, quarterback Charlie Batch and several offensive linemen, notably Pouncey. He also would invite teammates to work out with him in the offseason.
In 2014, Roethlisberger invited Wheaton, Antonio Brown (remember him?), Justin Brown and Derek Moye to Newport Beach, Calif. The next spring, he brought Brown, Martavis Bryant, running back Le’Veon Bell and others on a four-day, fun-in-the-sun excursion to Georgia — which sounds a lot like a scene from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
According to the piece, they “stayed at Roethlisberger’s Greensboro lake house and trained at the University of Georgia. They worked out about two-and-a-half hours a day in advance of OTAs.”
Everybody sure loved Ben then. Or at least they said so. Even Brown, who would later snap out of jealousy and who knows what else.
“(Roethlisberger) has made me a better person by talking about life things, family things,” Brown said then. “He has told me about mistakes he’s made and encouraged me not to make the same mistakes.”
Oh well. Who was going to save Antonio Brown?
It was interesting that Porter unleashed his fury on Heyward’s podcast while Heyward just sat back and listened, never interjecting except with an “uh-huh” as Porter was shredding Roethlisberger. Porter called Roethlisberger “foul” and “a bad teammate” not worthy of the captaincy he would eventually gain.
Heyward sure didn’t jump in to disagree with Porter’s stance. His silence spoke loudly.
But I’ll say it one more time: Who cares?
Show me the rings.