James Harrison isn’t known for comforting quarterbacks but came to his former QB’s defense on Monday.
The retired Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker used his podcast to refute a “pure-out attack” against Ben Roethlisberger’s character by ex-teammate Joey Porter Sr. It was the latest salvo in an unexpected podcast feud between retired Steelers players.
“Me, personally, I do not think Ben is a bad teammate,” said Harrison, while co-hosting the “Deebo and Joe” podcast with Joe Haden.
The online feud began last week when Porter accused Harrison and Roethlisberger of breaking the Steelers “brotherhood” by criticizing Mike Tomlin. Porter appeared as a guest on “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward” and blasted Roethlisberger as not a good teammate.
On his podcast Monday, Harrison acknowledged how Roethlisberger’s ego was inflated as a young NFL star but insisted the quarterback matured over the years.
“I have a good relationship with Ben,” Harrison said. “I can say this because I talked to Ben — this is not going to be news to him — but ‘Seven’ could be an (expletive). That’s facts. When Ben came in, this man went 13-1 as a rookie starter. The team was 15-1. His second season, the team won a Super Bowl. The youngest quarterback to ever do it, 23. That’s when ‘Seven’ was born.
“Hell yeah, that’s going to stroke my ego and give me delusions of grandeur. But over time, (Roethlisberger) has matured and grown up. You don’t value the same things you did at 23 as you do at 30. Hell, I’m a different person at 47 than I was at 45. And I’m a far worse person at 40 than I was at 45.”
Harrison said if anyone broke the “brotherhood” it was Porter for attacking a former teammate’s character. Roethlisberger was teammates with Porter during his first three seasons (2004-06). Porter returned as a Steelers defensive coach for five seasons later in Roethlisberger’s career.
Harrison said he and Roethlisberger never got personal in their separate critiques of Tomlin.
“That was a pure-out attack on Ben’s character, and what I said about Mike was an attack on his coaching,” Harrison said. “Two different things. That’s more breaking the brotherhood than what Ben said. Ben said, ‘I think I feel like maybe Tomlin should move on.’ Like, come on, bruh. That’s what he said.
“I went way harder than that,” Harrison added. “But (Porter) went on (the attack) because he, obviously, has a personal issue with Ben that hasn’t been resolved.”
Harrison played with Roethlisberger from 2004-12 and 2014-17, winning two Super Bowls. Harrison and Porter were teammates for five years. All three are enshrined in the Steelers Hall of Honor.
“Me and Joey have talked at length about this,” Harrison said. “We have not minced words. If you’d heard us talk … you would’ve thought it was on and poppin’.”
He said he hung up on Porter at one point.
“Brothers fight,” Harrison added.
Roethlisberger hasn’t released an episode of his podcast “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” since before Porter’s comments last week. Porter’s strongest accusations were that Roethlisberger shouldn’t talk about “Steeler business” because his teammates had “protected” him from criticism during his playing days.
“The (stuff) that ‘Seven’ did that we don’t talk about is crazy,” said Porter, referring to Roethlisberger by his jersey number. “Out of anybody who talks, he should never grab a microphone and really talk Steeler business. Because if we’re talking Steeler business, his (butt) is foul of all foul. Like the (stuff) that he did is foul of all foul. He’s not a good teammate.
“Won a Super Bowl with him,” Porter added. “But the person, he’s just not a good teammate. He knows that. Anybody in the Steeler building knows that, but we protected him. Because I’ve only won one Super Bowl and that was my quarterback. So do I love my quarterback? Yeah. But is he a good person? No.”
Porter also recalled that Roethlisberger had distanced himself from the team and refused to sign autographs for teammates.
“Yes, there are things you see in the locker room, you heard in the locker room,” Harrison said. “But it was never something that we had an issue with, that we couldn’t correct with each other. So, the relationship with Ben is still intact for me. Right now, we are far better, greater friends — brothers now — than we ever were in the past. And that continues to grow.”