Ben Roethlisberger is laser focused this offseason on changing the dynamic within the Steelers organization following the blatant lack of cohesion that festered in the Pittsburgh locker room last year.
After attending the Steelers’ offseason program on Tuesday, Big Ben made some comments that certainly appear to be thinly-veiled shots at his former teammates Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, who fostered much of the controversy.
Ben Roethlisberger is attending Steelers' phase one of the offseason program as part of a large turnout. "We want to show we are here, dedicated to this team, dedicated to having a great season," Roethlisberger told https://t.co/LMvWNyvJlE. "We are all about each other."
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) April 16, 2019
Last season, it was very clear that those two players, who of course were integral components of the success of the Steelers for the past few seasons, were not interested in being dedicated to their team (at least, above themselves).
Bell gave up tens of millions of dollars by not participating in a single game for the Steelers this season and ended up signing with the Jets, a team that has finished in last place four of the past five years and hasn’t made the playoffs since 2011.
Antonio Brown, who remains one of the best wide receivers in the league, did everything in his power to get out of Pittsburgh and land himself with the 4-12 Raiders.
? NEW BEEF HISTORY ?
Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger did their best to play nice, but by the end of 2018 their beef snowballed into something that couldn’t be hidden.
(FULL ⬇️)https://t.co/Gq7kCs7QCX pic.twitter.com/nLjWAeNidc
— SB Nation (@SBNation) April 11, 2019
Big Ben can take all the subliminal shots he wants at AB and Bell, who were probably not the easiest egos to manage, but at the end of the day, his team just lost two key pieces.
The Steelers clearly have an internal issue that Roethisberger and Coach Mike Tomlin are 100% a part of. In hopes of changing the team culture this fall, Roethlisberger’s actions, as the leader of his team, must coincide with his words if this team can ever recuperate from their losses.
