The public airing of Pittsburgh Steelers grievances by ex-players hit a new level Wednesday.
This time, former All-Pro linebacker Joey Porter weighed in, coming to former head coach Mike Tomlin’s defense. He had some scathing criticism of Ben Roethlisberger along the way.
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Porter didn’t play for Tomlin. But he was a defensive assistant on Tomlin’s staff from 2015-18. And he won a Super Bowl with the Steelers under head coach Bill Cowher while playing with James Harrison and Ben Roethlisberger. Both have publicly criticized Tomlin in recent months.
Porter calls out Harrison, Roethlisberger for Tomlin criticism
Porter questioned Harrison’s motivations for criticizing Tomlin. And he saved some choice words for Roethlisberger, whom he called “not a good teammate.”
Porter made his comments on the “Not Just Football” podcast hosted by current Steeler Cam Heyward on an episode released Wednesday.
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“They tell the version of the story in Pittsburgh that they want to tell,” Porter said of Tomlin’s critics.
Porter then directly addressed Harrison, who’s criticized Tomlin repeatedly, calling him not “a great coach” and not a Hall of Famer. He says that he told Harrison that he disapproves of everything that he said about Tomlin.
“How can you say he’s not a great coach when everything that happened good to you in football was under his watch?” Porter said.
He rattled off Harrison’s accolades while playing for Tomlin, which included two All-Pro selections, a Super Bowl championship and a Defensive Player of the Year award.
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“You think the head coach didn’t have his hand in making that player?” he continued. “When you say he did nothing for you, that’s crazy. Then it’s like, why would you take the shot at the guy who changed your life?”
Porter goes off on Ben Roethlisberger
But Porter saved his most scathing comments for Roethlisberger, who said during the season before Tomlin’s postseason resignation in January that “maybe it’s a clean-house time.”
Roethlisberger quarterbacked the 2006 Steelers team on which Porter won a Super Bowl. Porter didn’t even say Roethlisberger’s name on Wednesday. He instead referred to him by his jersey, No. 7.
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“[Harrison] broke the brotherhood, then 7 definitely broke the brotherhood,” Porter said. “The s*** that 7 do, that did, that we don’t talk about, is crazy. Out of anybody that should talk, he should never grab a microphone and really talk Steeler business.
“Because if we’re talking Steeler business, his a** is foul of all foul. Like the s*** that he did is foul of all foul. He’s not a good teammate. Won a Super Bowl with him. But the person? He’s just not a good teammate. He knows that. Anybody in the Steeler building knows that. But we protected him.”
Joey Porter, seen here as Pittsburgh’s linebackers coach in 2016, has weighed in on the ongoing Steelers drama.
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters)
When asked for specifics, Porter said that Roethlisberger refused as a rookie to sign autographs for teammates’ families.
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“Who the hell is too cool to sign for your teammate?” Porter said. “Like, I’m not a fan. I strap on with you every day. I’m in practice with you every day”
And he said that when he returned to the Steelers as a coach, Roethlisberger “was off limits to even talk about.”
“At that point in time, he could do it however he want to and wasn’t nobody gonna say nothing,” Porter continued. “That animal was already built.”
This isn’t likely to be the last word in this Steelers saga.
