We don’t often talk about what other people are saying about the Pittsburgh Steelers mostly because, who cares. But this short article from WEEI’s Alex Reimer made me chuckle so I thought I’d share it.
The headline? “Big Ben Roethilsberger is imploding, and that’s magnificent news for the Patriots.” Already off to a stupid start.
He basically just recaps the big storylines of the week. Roethlisberger going on his radio show, criticizing guys like James Washington and Antonio Brown. There’s hardly any opinion here, just segues to quotes, capped with a sensationalized headline. But Reimer – sullying the good “Alex” name – sums things up like this.
“It’s a tired act from Roethlisberger, and worst of all, he doesn’t seem to possess any self-awareness. In an interview Wednesday, he defended his right to publicly chastise his teammates.”
He finishes off the article with a Pulitzer Prize for dumb conclusions.
“And right on cue, the Steelers’ seem like they’re on the verge of self-combusting. Per usual, Big Ben is leading the way.”
Yawn.
It’s one of many “it’s all over” sentiments we’ve heard from the national media time and time again. 1-2-1 start this year? Season over. Then the Steelers win six in a row and everyone shuts up. One loss to Denver, hardly any fault of Roethlisberger, and they’re back to writing Pittsburgh off.
Even if you don’t like what Roethlisberger said, it’s no sign of the team imploding, anymore than it “seemed” like they were after Martavis Bryant’s comments, Antonio Brown’s Facebook Live incident, his Gatorade cooler fight, or all of the Le’Veon Bell nonsense that dragged on for months.
And this is hardly new for Big Ben. As our Daniel Valente pointed out the other day on Twitter, Roethlisberger has called guys out before, including himself.
Not once did a season end and anyone circled back to what Roethlisberger said about a teammate weeks or months ago. Like all the other drama, this “news” will promptly be forgotten about as soon as the Chargers game ends when there’s 40 new storylines to discuss, win or loss.
That’s not to say the Steelers are guaranteed anything the rest of the season. Tough schedule the rest of the way, that’s for sure, and the Patriots are definitely included. They’ll likely be favored to win the Week 15 matchup and rightfully so. They’ve earned that.
But however the Steelers season ends, hoisting the Lombardi or ending in disappointment, it will have nothing to do with what Roethlisberger said in a radio show. They’ll win because of him, not in spite of him.
