Let’s not pretend Ben Roethlisberger is really a leader for the Steelers

With the spotlight on Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback has clearly made a point of saying the right things.

It’s a new year and a fresh start. No drama.

While speaking with the team’s website, Roethlisberger addressed the heavy attendance from veterans for the first day of voluntary conditioning sessions, which kicked off the first activities for Steelers players in the 2019 season.

“I expect nothing else,” Roethlisberger said Tuesday. “We want to show we are here, dedicated to this team, dedicated to having a great season. We are all about each other.”

Good stuff, Ben.

It echoes what coach Mike Tomlin said last season when Le’Veon Bell was holding out for the entire regular season. “We want volunteers, not hostages,” Tomlin said in November. And here is Roethlisberger, voluntarily showing up to get in some conditioning with his teammates.

What a guy.

It’s easy to imagine that Big Ben is taking a shot at Bell and wide receiver Antonio Brown, both of whom engineered their ways off the Steelers’ roster over the past year with outright — but perhaps justified — insubordination. Bell’s holdout ended with free agency, where he signed with the New York Jets. Brown’s split with the Steelers came after open trade demands and constant criticisms of Roethlisberger. Finally, Pittsburgh traded Brown to the Oakland Raiders.

Roethlisberger contributed to both of their departures. Bell said the quarterback was “a factor” in his departure — Brown made it clear: Roethlisberger was pretty much the factor.

Which makes it all the more unbelievable that Roethlisberger is a true leader and is “dedicated to this team, dedicated to having a great season.” He’s shown a clear penchant for ripping teammates publicly, a fact that won’t be lost on the remaining players. Roethlisberger has deflected criticism toward others too often to be taken seriously when he says his dedication is to the team.

And, of course, Roethlisberger must have spotless attendance at these voluntary workouts and practices. What’s that you’re saying? He doesn’t? Turns out, Big Ben has missed many voluntary conditioning sessions and organized team activities, which include meetings and non-contact practices. Last year, Roethlisberger missed some of the sessions aimed toward installing the basics of the offensive system, because he already knows them. He left that work to the young quarterbacks. Of course one of those young QBs, 2018 third-round pick Mason Rudolph, would have benefitted from the presence of an experienced veteran who knows the system so well that he can afford to skip the sessions. That’s what a QB does if he really believes “We are all about each other.”

At least, he didn’t criticize his team for selecting Rudolph. That’d be ugly, right? Oh wait, he did do that. He openly questioned the pick, wondering how it helped the Steelers win now.

But he probably takes care of his young receivers. He wouldn’t throw one of those youngsters to the wolves if they made a mistake… right? Shoot, looks like he has done that, too. When rookie wideout James Washington dropped a crucial reception in November against the Denver Broncos, Roethlisberger  openly criticized the rookie, who might have unnecessarily dove for the ball on the play for lack of confidence. (I wonder why he’s short on confidence. His quarterback seems so supportive.)

That was probably it, though. This can’t possibly be a pattern — except for when he ripped into Brown for improperly running a route in the same game. Brown’s route was not flat enough, Roethlisberger said. And the Steelers quarterback threw a game-sealing interception for a loss.

But it’s cool, because Roethlisberger said he has “earned the right” to publicly criticize his teammates. And that attitude definitely didn’t throw off team chemistry for months to come, climaxing in the departure of two of the team’s best offensive players. Well actually, that happened. As mentioned, Brown and Bell both felt the team struggled to win because of Roethlisberger, and decided to leave, in part, because of him.

You get the point: there’s a pattern of insufficient or non-existent leadership. Roethlisberger has a history of acting like a jerk. His comments were clearly an effort to reset the team’s mentality. And yet, those remarks not only came off as a indirect shot at Brown and Bell, but they also highlighted Roethlisberger’s history of shortcomings in the leadership department.

Sorry if you think I’m a skeptic. But I’m not buying Big Ben as a leader.