TribLive- With 15 pro seasons, two Super Bowl rings and the seventh-most career passing yards in NFL history on his résumé, Ben Roethlisberger believes it’s part of his job description to publicly level constructive criticism of teammates.
“I think I have earned the right to be able to do that with as long as I have been here,” the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback said Wednesday, “and I’ll just be just as critical of myself (in the media), as well.” A day earlier during his weekly 93.7 radio segment, Roethlisberger expressed a level of dissatisfaction with at least three of his teammates/coaches. • Receiver Antonio Brown’s route on a late interception during a loss at Denver on Sunday : “You have to come in flat. You can’t drift in the end zone.” • Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner’s playcalling on the final drive of that game: “I think we should have went to (JuJu Smith-Schuster) four straight plays.” • Rookie James Washington’s drop earlier in the loss to the Broncos : “You’re not going to be out there if you‘re not going to make those plays for us.” ------- While I find Ben Roethlisberger to be a woefully unlikable person and a terribly two-faced teammate, there is one thing I appreciate about him and that's his predictability in being both those things without shame. Like, to look up the amount of times that the Steelers' cranky quarterback has taken to throwing someone other than himself under the bus would be a glorious waste of time, since you could far more easily track the rotations of the wheels on said bus by taking a look at the right side of Pittsburgh's record with him under center. Unlike his performances prior (See: the laughable game-ending interception that should have counted as two turnovers since the only thing that stopped it from being picked off by the primary defender was the belly of the defensive lineman it was thrown into), the man - much like his head coach - is without fail in pointing the finger after a loss...
To be honest, I almost didn't even feel it was newsworthy that he hit on the unholy trinity of bitching and moaning by blaming a superstar receiver, a rookie receiver, and his offensive coordinator for the result of a game he unequivocally threw away all on his own. If nothing else, the fact that I've nearly become desensitized by his dumbass denunciations is a testament to his longevity as the NFL's preeminent prick. That may come off as disingenuous, but follow the juxtaposition of the following quotes, that were offered back-to-back during an interview, and tell me there's not an art to publicly crafting your innocence at the expense of others... 1) “Being around for a long time with a lot of different players,” Roethlisberger said. “You have to know how to motivate different guys in different ways. I think that’s part of being a leader, being a captain, just understanding players. Sometimes you just grab them off to the side, and sometimes you have to be honest with them.” 2) "How does Roethlisberger think teammates receive it when he publicly criticizes them? “Go ask them,” he said. “I have no idea." It's not exactly an admirable art, but that doesn't mean Ben Roethlisberger hasn't mastered it in putting in his 10,000 hours as an unaccountable asshole who just so happens to be pretty good at quarterback the rest of the time.
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