Hines Ward enjoyed a lot of success with Ben Roethlisberger on the
field, but he wants Big Ben to do more to lead the Steelers in 2019.
Back when Hines Ward was running routes on the field, he and
Ben Roethlisberger seemed to be in perfect harmony. Now that Ward has hung up
his cleats for good, he has some harsh words for his former quarterback.
Specifically, Ward wants Big Ben to stop taking to the radio
airwaves to call out his teammates. Instead, he suggest that Roethlisberger
should “treat them like a band of brothers.” That means he should keep
all of the team’s issues in-house rather than airing the dirty laundry in
public.
It’s obviously been a tumultuous year for Pittsburgh.
Le’Veon Bell chose to take the season off rather than playing out the last year
of his deal with the franchise. He’s almost certainly going to depart the Steel
City via free agency in the coming weeks.
Antonio Brown isn’t going to depart via free agency, but
it’s very likely he’ll be traded before April’s draft. His off field antics and
obvious disconnect with Roethlisberger have torched his relationship with the
franchise that drafted him. The Steelers will try to find a deal that brings
back a play maker of equal value, but that’s going to be a tall task.
The departure of those two egos does give Roethlisberger a
chance to turn over a new leaf in terms of his leadership. The question is
whether or not the strong-armed signal caller can reasonably be expected to
alter his behavior at this late stage of his career. If Roethlisberger didn’t
respect supreme talents like Bell and Brown enough not to speak about them in
public, it’s very unlikely he’ll extend that courtesy to younger, less
established players.
On the other hand, Roethlisberger must realize that the way
he’s been handling things hasn’t gotten him the best results possible. If he
really wants to win another Super Bowl ring before he retires, he needs to find
a better way to get along with his teammates. It’s quite possible that heeding
Ward’s words would help him do just that. Time will tell whether or not Big Ben
will listen to his former go-to receiver.
No comments:
Post a Comment