The Pittsburgh Steelers are a topic of discussion this offseason, mainly because Mike Tomlin decided to step down after 19 seasons with the team. They went out and hired Mike McCarthy as Tomlin's replacement. However, aside from hiring a new head coach, there was recent off-field drama when former linebacker Joey Porter Sr. criticized Ben Roethlisberger for having an opinion on the matter.
Porter was talking with Dianna Russini and Cam Heyward on Heyward's podcast, “Not Just Football,” and called out Roethlisberger. He said that Roethlisberger was a good quarterback, and he is thankful for the Super Bowl he won with him, and he will defend him as a quarterback, but he said he was not a good person or teammate.
It is worth noting that Porter said, “Then Seven definitely broke the brotherhood because like the s—t that Seven did, that we don’t talk about is crazy. Like, out of anyone who should talk, he should never grab a microphone and talk Steelers business. Because if we’re talking Steelers business, his a– is foul of all foul. Like the s–t that he did is foul of all foul.
“He's not a good teammate,” Porter continued. “Won a Super Bowl with him, but the person, he's just not a good teammate. Like he knows that. Anybody in the Steeler building knows that, but we protected him because I've only won one Super Bowl, and that was my quarterback. So, do I love my quarterback? Yeah. But is he a good person? No.”
Porter mentioned two different things in the interview. One was a story about Ben Roethlisberger, a rookie, refusing to sign autographs for teammates who wanted to give them to family or friends.
The other was when he mentioned something “foul” that Roethlisberger did. While he does not directly reference it, the thing that he is talking about is when Roethlisberger was accused of rape in 2009 by a casino hostess at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, who filed a civil lawsuit accusing Roethlisberger of raping her in his hotel penthouse in July 2008. The lawsuit was settled, and he was not charged.
With Roethlisberger being up for the Hall of Fame next year, it will be interesting to see where some of the support from his former teammates comes from.
