Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace sure has been vocal about his former team ever since signing a $60 million contract with the Miami Dolphins on the first day of free agency this past off-season and this past week it appears that he took a few more veiled shots at the team that drafted him in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft, according to Adam H. Beasley of the Miami Herald.
“Everybody has a college mentality around here,” said Wallace about the vibe surrounding the Dolphins right now. “It’s a lot different than where I came from. Everybody’s hungry. Everybody wants to get better, get to where we need to be — that’s a winning record.”
Wallace certainly makes it sound like his former team wasn\’t hungry, nor were they wanting to get better. In addition to those comments, the 26-year-old wide receiver also insinuated that he had the short-timer disease while in Pittsburgh.
“In Pittsburgh, I knew I was [in] a six-month lease every time, a furnished apartment,” Wallace said last week, according to Beasley. “I’d just bring my bag and be ready to go. Down here, I have to buy me a house, get settled in.”
It is no secret that Wallace was unhappy last season with both his contract situation and the way that he was used in the offense, but now that he\’s gotten paid, is it really necessary for him to take these shots at his former team? I think not.
On the flip side, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who Wallace thinks might not be able to throw the ball as far as his new quarterback Ryan Tannehill can, has had nothing but good things to say about his former offensive weapon ever since he signed with the Dolphins. Several times this off-season Roethlisberger has been quoted as saying that the team will miss Wallace.
The way that Wallace is running his mouth this early about his former team, I cant wait to hear what comes out of his mouth the week leading up to the Week 14 game this season in Pittsburgh.
Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin had a huge distraction in the locker room last off-season in the form of wide receiver Chad Johnson, but cut ties with him prior to the season beginning. Philbin won\’t be able to do that this year with Wallace, however, so I suspect he calls his new offensive weapon into his office pretty soon to have a little talk with him.
Until Wallace starts living up to that money he was paid back in March, he probably ought to keep his mouth shut and stop taking shots at his former team as well as the sexual preferences of others.
