Ben Roethlisberger was the king of two things during his career as quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
One was extending a play by warding off or eluding would-be tacklers in the offensive backfield prior to connecting on a huge passing play.
The other was passive aggressiveness.
No one could throw a dart like Roethlisberger. Whether that dart was a tight window throw to Antonio Brown, or a backhanded, dismissive retort over something he didn’t like in the media, Roethlisberger usually hit his target.
That said, most of Roethlisberger’s passes were usually delivered on a straight line. His quotes were usually indirect jabs to the ribs more than they were punches in the nose.
Such was the case on Tuesday when Roethlisberger published his latest “Footbahlin’” podcast.
Many in the Steelers fanbase were waiting to see if Roethlisberger would respond to Joey Porter’s recent comments. The retired Steelers linebacker and coach said Roethlisberger wasn’t a good person and was “not a good teammate.”
Predictably, Roethlisberger did not fire back.
Eh, not directly anyway.
After an off-week for the podcast, Roethlisberger opened the show by saying, “We’re back. Not a lot of Steelers news to really hit on …”
Pfft! Nah! Just your former teammate piling on you and James Harrison during Cameron Heyward’s podcast, followed by just about every former Steeler from 2004-21 coming out of the woodwork to offer their opinion on the situation.
Nope. Nothing to see here.
“The coaching staff is all done. We’ve talked about that a little bit,” Roethlisberger continued. “There’s been no — and I apologize to anyone if I can’t recollect — if there is some big news that we’ve missed.”
Ummm, nope. Neither can I, Ben. Nothing springs to mind.
Aside from you being dragged into the center of a debate that seems to have an entire Super Bowl roster picking sides after 20 years of Pittsburgh wallowing in the afterglow of that run to bring the city its fifth Vince Lombardi Trophy.
C’mon, “some big news that we’ve missed.” Subtle, Ben. Subtle.
Roethlisberger then went on to a cursory mention of Aaron Rodgers’ future and the slew of mock drafts that are starting to come out.
Then he discussed being at the Professional Bull Riding event at PPG Paints Arena and a movie premiere he attended. Singer Anne Wilson got a mention.
Porter’s comments did not.
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That’s always been Roethlisberger’s M.O. when dealing with anything controversial — dismiss it by way of intentional ignorance of the topic. As if to say the conversation was never important enough to come across his timeline or to take up his personal bandwidth.
That was just a slightly longer way of him saying, “I don’t have social media, so I wasn’t aware of it,” any time such matters came up during a press gathering while he was a player.
Of course, anyone who ever covered Roethlisberger knows he heard and saw more than most players and would usually let you know if he didn’t like something you said or wrote by how he answered your questions the next time he spoke.
Or he’d do so by filtering his disapproval toward you through someone else in the organization. Or by speaking in generalities regarding a certain topic that might have been adjacent to the controversy at hand.
Kind of like he did on Tuesday’s video stream when he spoke at great length about how he connected with the film featured in that movie premiere he attended. It was a screening of “I Can Only Imagine 2.” It’s a sequel to the original film based on the origin behind the Christian music group MercyMe’s song of the same title.
“We all have to grow up,” Roethlisberger added. “We’re all immature, at times, and we’re all selfish. That’s just part of what happened in the Garden (of Eden). That’s the sin that is in all of us. We’re born inherently sinful and selfish. I think as we grow and we mature, I say it’s only through the grace of God that we can look back and be like, ‘Man, look how much I’m changed.’ I’m proud of that.”
And that was how Roethlisberger responded to Porter’s insinuation that Roethlisberger wasn’t a good person, without mentioning Porter’s name.
“I’d like to think as we mature and we grow in our faith — I’ve grown in my faith — that it’s less about me (as priority) No. 1,” Roethlisberger said. “A lot of us, inherently, that’s what we are, we’re born that way. We’re born that I’m No. 1. And I think as I’ve grown in my faith and with my family, ‘me’ needs to come way down. God goes No. 1, my family, my friends and then me.”
And that’s how Roethlisberger responded to Porter’s criticism of him being a bad teammate without specifically referencing the criticism.
Or, admitting that the accusation existed — which may have bothered Roethlisberger too much to verbally acknowledge.
Like Matt Canada’s backward wide-pitch to a running back on third-and-1, it was a long way to go to get there. But everyone could glean what Roethlisberger was saying. I’m sure that’s the response Roethlisberger would give if asked about his former teammate’s quotes on the podcast.
After all, as you know, he “doesn’t have social media.” So how could he possibly have known what Porter said about him, right?
More to the point, though, as we’ve said in this space, Porter has had his own personal missteps as well. So now that everyone has had their say — directly, or not — we can move on to more important Steelers matters. That way, Roethlisberger can fill up more time on his podcast.
Bull riding and mock drafts are only going to take him so far.