Ben Roethlisberger Responds to Critics Roasting Him for Throwing Teammates Under the Bus
On Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw two interceptions in a 24-17 loss to the Denver Broncos.
On Tuesday, he threw two teammates under the bus during his weekly radio show on KDKA-FM.
But, according to Roethlisberger, he has earned the right to publicly criticize his teammates based on tenure. Despite the fact that the Steelers have been mired in turmoil all season — much of it around the holdout of star running back Le’Veon Bell — Big Ben sees no problem in calling out his teammates for mistakes.
“I think I have earned the right to be able to do that with as long as I have been here,” he said Wednesday, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “And I’ll just be just as critical of myself (in the media) as well.”
Asked how he earned that right, Roethlisberger said, “Being around for a long time with a lot of different players. 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.”
The 36-year-old quarterback said he had “no idea” how his teammates receive his criticizing them in the media. “Go ask them,” he said.
Star receiver Antonio Brown was the first to feel Roethlisberger’s wrath during his KDKA show. Brown supposedly ran the wrong route on the game-sealing play in which Roethlisberger was picked off in the end zone.
Interception in the endzone by Shelby Harris to save the game for Denver! #PITvsDEN pic.twitter.com/kmJB4cP2ER
— Sports Daily (@SportsDGI) November 26, 2018
Brown is at the top of the screen to start the play. According to Roethlisberger, he was supposed to run a flat route, which would have had him run nearly parallel to the line of scrimmage. Instead, he ran a more angled route that took him toward the middle of the end zone, and the ball was intercepted by a dropping defensive lineman.
“But third down was another run-pass option. This time it was a different play where I’m reading the safety to the weak side where AB is,” he said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “If the safety comes down and takes away the run, I’m told to flip the ball back and throw it over top of [the safety’s] head to Antonio who’s supposed to be running a real flat, down-the-line kind of route. …
“Looking at it on film, I can’t tell if he would’ve caught it or not, obviously, but he did undercut AB. So who knows what would’ve happened? That’s where I talk to AB, like, ‘AB, you have to come flat. You can’t drift in the end zone, because those undercuts can happen.’ So would the guy have had a chance? Yes, I definitely think he would’ve had a chance. I can’t control that guy. I can only control the safety and if he comes and takes the run away, I can throw it over his head.”
Later in the interview, Roethlisberger called out rookie receiver James Washington, who had a crucial third-quarter drop on what could have been a touchdown.
Big Ben criticizes WR James Washington for crucial drop: “I’m not really sure what he was doing…James needs to run through that, and it’s a touchdown”
(Via @tribjoerutter, @thecheckdown)pic.twitter.com/N2EFsvnef1
— Bleacher Report NFL (@BR_NFL) November 27, 2018
It appears that Washington dove for the ball when he didn’t need to. If he had simply kept on running, the ball would have hit him in stride for what could have been a 59-yard touchdown.
“I think he just didn’t trust his hands. For some reason he jumped/drove,” Roethlisberger said. “I’m not really sure what he’s doing. We looked at it. Coach got on him pretty good yesterday. We took a long hard look at it. James just needs to run through it, and it’s a touchdown. … James, he needs to make that play. Yes, he’s a rookie, but you can’t be out there if you’re not going to make those plays for us.”
The quarterback then played the role of a receiver’s coach in attempting to explain why you shouldn’t jump unless necessary.
“When I said ‘confidence,’ I think he needs to have confidence in himself,” Roethlisberger said. “I think when you leave your feet for a ball that you don’t need to leave your feet for — it’s not just me, this is, I think, if you ask receivers, if you ask coaches, if you ask people around the NFL — it’s the same sort of thing if you talk about a DB who’s having issues intercepting a ball, they’re trying to catch it with their chest or their body, right?”
Despite everything that the Steelers have gone through, they sit at the top of the AFC North at 7-3-1. If the season ended today, they would host the Los Angeles Chargers in the divisional round of the playoffs — and the Chargers just happen to be the team they will face Sunday.
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