The Pittsburgh Steelers had one of the worst seasons in the last two decades. It wasn’t about the results this franchise posted, but more about the overall situation in the team.
They missed the playoffs for the first time since 2013, and yet they had huge ambitions. Super Bowl type of ambitions. Eventually, it turned out to be a huge bust and one of the most painful experience for the fans of this franchise.
At first, Le’Veon Bell didn’t want to show up at the training camp and decided to pause the entire season, all that in order to get away from Pennsylvania.
His teammate Antonio Brown chose to leave the Steelers too. Brown, who is without any doubt one of the best, if not the best wide receiver in the league, didn’t want anymore to be a part of the franchise where he spent first 8 seasons of this pro career.
Eventually, he pointed in the direction of Ben Roethlisberger and stated that the legendary quarterback is the reason for his departure.
But in the latest interview Big Ben had with the media since the finish of the last season, Steelers QB said that he doesn’t know why Brown left, and that the two had a good relationship. Roethlisberger used the phrase “confusing” at one part of the interview when talking about the whole situation.
He defended himself, stating that the entire situation was too mysterious.
“It was hard to process it, because I never knew anything,” said Big Ben, mentioning the fact that he and Brown saw each other before the season finale, and that everything was OK back then.
“We hugged. We had a great talk. Everything was good. I knew nothing,” he said.
According to Roethlisberger, he later heard some remarks Brown made about him, but not from the AB, but another source.
He also said that there were multiple attempts to contact Brown, who didn’t answer a single call, message or anything Roethlisberger tried. And ever since the two didn’t hear one another.
“I reached out to him many times, sent him texts, sent him calls — this is all before the season was over. Never heard back.”
Big Ben is hurt with the way things turned out, as he never had anything personal against Brown, who was his favorite target. The two guys were one of the best duos in the history of this league, which makes everything much tougher for Roethlisberger.
He hoped for the whole atmosphere to calm down after Brown leaves for Oakland, and that his ex-teammate might change his mind and start to communicate once again. But that didn’t happen.
Roethlisberger spoke yesterday, saying that he apologizes if some of his actions offended Brown, and stated that it wasn’t his intention to of doing that.
It seems that the talk won’t be made anytime soon. Antonio Brown’s reaction on Twitter is proof for that claim. When Big Ben’s apology hit the social networks and the media, the newly signed Raider had an interesting tweet on his account.
“Two Face.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSX5T3anbGI
It clearly shows that Brown isn’t willing to speak with his former quarterback. AB said on several occasions that he didn’t like the way Roethlisberger treated him and that he didn’t receive enough credit while playing for the Steelers.
He didn’t want to be labeled as the one who ruins the chemistry, and all these circumstances were the reason for him to demand a trade.
Brown was 7-time Pro Bowler with the Steelers. He is 5-time All-Pro and the reigning touchdown leader in the league.
As a Steeler, Brown had 837 receptions for 11,207 yards in total. He was one of the best kick-returners at the beginning of his career.
But more than that was his personality, which often made guys around him much better.
Meanwhile, Big Ben will stay for two more years in Pittsburg, because he recently signed a two-year $68 million contract with the Steelers.
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
Twitter:
Email: nikola@wagerbop.com
Leave a Reply