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brooke prior
multiple authors
East pittsburgh steelers Linebacker and assistant coach Joey Porter Sr. said on a podcast recorded during Super Bowl week that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was not a good teammate or person.
He also said that Roethlisberger and linebacker James Harrison “broke the brotherhood” by discussing team business and criticizing former head coach Mike Tomlin on his podcast.
“[Harrison] Broke the brotherhood,” Porter said. “Then 7 [Roethlisberger] The brotherhood was definitely broken. Whoever must speak must never hold the microphone and must actually talk steeler business. Because if we talk about the Steelers’ business, its – all fouls are fouls. What he did is the foulest of all fouls. He is not a good partner.
“Won a Super Bowl with him, but the guy is not a good teammate. He knows that. Anybody in the Steelers building knows that, but we protected him because I’ve only won one Super Bowl and he was my quarterback. So do I love my quarterback? Yes, but is he a good person? No.”
visible on cameron haywardOn Radio Row’s podcast, “Not Just Football,” Porter didn’t say anything about Harrison or Roethlisberger. Porter and Roethlisberger were teammates for three seasons and the pair won Super Bowl XL together. During that time, Porter was a team captain, and he told Hayward that he was particularly disappointed with some of Roethlisberger’s actions as a rookie.
In one instance, Porter said, Roethlisberger refused to autograph memorabilia for teammates’ families, which was common practice in the locker room.
“He was telling people, ‘No, I’m not going to sign him,'” Porter said. “So once he does that, who do they come and tell? The captain. When he did that to Chris Hoke the first time, I said, ‘Hey, this is messed up, man.’ I snatched it from Hokey, took it over there and asked him to sign it. But then when he did it to Aaron Smith, now I had to have a meeting [with Roethlisberger]. Like, you’re a newbie, you’re a young person.
“You can’t tell my vets you’re too good to sign for my vets. After all, who’s too good to sign for your teammates? I’m no fan.”
Porter also said that Roethlisberger was appointed captain rather than earning it through a locker room vote.
“We voted for him to be captain,” Porter said. “You had to vote. He came up in an era when they just gave you a ‘C’ – because if he wasn’t captain, it probably would have suited him. But nobody would vote him as captain because he didn’t have any captaincy qualities.”
Representatives for Roethlisberger did not respond to requests for comment. Prior to Tomlin’s resignation in January, Roethlisberger criticized his former head coach on his podcast, “Footballin with Ben Roethlisberger”, saying it might be time to “clean house” after the team’s loss in Week 13. buffalo bill.
But speaking to reporters before being inducted into the team’s Hall of Honor, Roethlisberger walked back some of his previous comments.
“Just because I said it’s time for some new things, I’m just saying that Coach Tomlin, if he wants to move on, he has every right to move on – not that he should have to,” he said.
Porter also criticized Harrison for taking shots at Tomlin and revealing personal conversations with the former head coach, who was his teammate for four seasons who later became a coach, on Harrison’s podcast, “Deebo & Joe.”
“You think the head coach didn’t have a hand in creating that player? So when you say he didn’t do anything for you, that’s crazy,” Porter said. “So it’s like, hey, why would you take aim at the guy who changed your life? Because [Bill] Cowboy didn’t change your life. Cowher bit you three times.”
