- Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger made
beautiful magic together as the league's most dynamic aerial
connection for upwards of a half decade.
Then all of the sudden the two Canton bound superstars
just couldn't play nice.
This is the inexplicably stupid history of their beef.
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The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Ben Roethlisberger
11th over all in 2004 and he provided immediate dividends,
taking over as starting quarterback in week three
of his rookie season and setting an NFL record by winning
each of his first 14 career starts and guiding his squad
to the AFC championship game.
He won Super Bowl extra large for an encore
becoming the only quarterback to ever hoist
the Lombardi Trophy before blowing out 24 candles.
In the ensuing years he'd break every meaningful franchise
passing record, get a nine figure contract extension,
and win another Super Bowl in February 2009.
He was an established, bona fide super star
going into his seventh season in 2010
when the Steelers used a sixth round pick on a little known
wide receiver out of Central Michigan named Antonio Brown.
By year two he burst on the scene,
teaming up with Mike Wallace to form one of the leagues
top receiving duos, leading to a lucrative five year
extension after just his second season.
Once Wallace left for Miami in 2013,
Brown and Ben set fire to the entire NFL
and by the time the dust settled on a 2016 season,
Brown had posted the most prolific four year
receiving stretch in the history of the game.
That led to another big money extension
ahead of the 2017 season which definitely seemed
to cement his status as a Steeler for life.
The first few games that year were business as usual
but then came a week four trip to Baltimore
when Brown broke wide open for what would've been
a huge third down play only for
Big Ben to never even look his way.
Brown threw a temper tantrum taking his frustration
out on this poor cooler.
Then a couple days later when Ben was making his
weekly radio appearance he threw his wideout under the bus
for creating a needless distraction, explaining that,
"It's not like I intentionally didn't throw
"it to him, I was doing what my reads tell me to do.
"I don't even want to say I made a mistake
"because I was reading the side I was supposed to read.
"It's just unfortunate that it happened
"and it's unfortunate that he acted and reacted that way."
You see over the years Roethlisberger has consistently
gone on the radio and aired team dirty laundry
on a public platform and it's pissed off
a whole bunch of his wideouts.
After Emmanuel Sanders left Pittsburgh
to sign with the Broncos he went out of his way
to note how much better of a leader Peyton Manning was
than Ben Roethlisberger and noted his discussions
with Wallace on the topic of Ben
calling teammates out on the radio.
- I said if Ben called me out on a radio show,
the next day I would literally walk up to him
in the locker room and say hey man, like don't do that.
Keep my name out of your mouth.
- [Narrator] Legendary Steelers wideout Hines Ward
also voiced similar beliefs regarding Ben's leadership
as it pertained to those radio segments.
- [Hines] You know I just think he had to take the
initiative to kind of do more as a leader,
not just being able to call guys out on his radio show.
You don't have to air it out to the public
where everyone can hear.
- Things were at least fine on the field throughout 2017.
Brown notched his fifth consecutive All Pro season
as the Steelers won 13 games
and repeated as division champs.
But 2018 represented a huge fork in the road
for the organization with Roethlisberger aging
and star running back Le'Veon Bell on sabbatical
their window to contend was diminishing.
They kicked off the season by failing to defeat
a Browns squad who had lost 34 of their previous 35 games.
So tension was already high when they welcomed
Pat Mahomes and the Chiefs to the big ketchup bottle.
Near the goal line, down 12 with just a couple minutes
left Brown expected and wanted that touchdown
but Ben had other plans and was able to scramble for the TD.
Brown was irritated even though his team, ya know, scored.
They'd ultimately come up short and about an hour
and a half following the game a tweet
from a former team PR employee threw gas on the fire
when he intimated that Brown's massive success was simply
and exclusively due to the presence of the
two time Super Bowl champ delivering him all those balls.
Brown responded with his first public acknowledgment
to the world of his discontent in Western Pennsylvania.
He'd delete that tweet, but this is the internet
where nothing is forever.
No putting that toothpaste back in the tube.
Roethlisberger tried to downplay the situation,
showering Brown with praise and writing any antics off
as a byproduct of his passion and burning desire to win.
They looked to put this behind them and the team rebounded
with a six game winning streak providing a comfortable
cushion in the AFC North leading into
a week 12 game in Denver.
The Steelers were down a touchdown with just a minute left
but this Roethlisberger scramble
set them up with a first and goal on the doorstep
of the goal line in what should have led
to a game tying score.
Instead, when Ben looked Brown's way on this third down
his toss was plucked out of the air
by D lineman Shelby Harris.
As he's won't to do, Ben took to the radio
to publicly broadcast his blame of the wideout
and while he was at it voiced his belief
that they should’ve just thrown
four straight times to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Brown shrugged it off as constructive criticism
that he wasn't taking personally.
While Ben spoke to the media in front of his locker
and dug in on his stance defending his unorthodox
and antagonizing methods.
- You have to know how to motivate
different guys in different ways and I think that's part
of being a leader, being a captain.
Sometimes you have to be honest with them
and so I think that I've earned the right
to be able to do that with as long as I've been here.
- Everything was falling apart
and it showed on the field.
After that painful loss in Denver the Steelers
dropped three of their next four,
putting themselves on the ropes
and their playoff chances, which looked like a certainty
a month earlier, on life support.
Then all hell broke loose starting with the Wednesday
leading up to that final game of the 2018 season.
Former NFL wide receiver James Jones reported on NFL network
that Roethlisberger would consistently agitate Brown
and it reached a boiling point when Brown allegedly
ran the wrong route in a walk through practice
and Ben demanded they replace him with someone else.
An irate Brown then chucked the ball at Roethlisberger
before storming out of practice.
Hashing things out would also be tricky
with the apparent lack of trust
and respect Brown had for his signal caller.
While head coach Mike Tomlin tried to excuse Brown's
absence by making up a phony knee injury,
there was no keeping a lid on this brewing circus.
Brown would go completely AWOL ahead of their
biggest game of the season, skipping the entire week
of practice, including a Saturday walkthrough
and their team meeting that night.
Yet he somehow was under the impression
that he'd still take the field and play the next day
and when he didn't he left the stadium at halftime.
They wound up missing the playoffs
despite losing only two of their first 10 games,
just the forth time that's been done
since the NFL's 1978 expansion to a 16 game regular season.
Ben then did his final radio segment of the season
and while he said some nice things about his wideout,
he also made sure to point out that Brown wasn't returning
any of his texts or calls.
About seven weeks later things reached DEFCON one.
See Ben Roethlisberger had been accused
of committing sexual assault both in 2008
as well in 2010 and in mid February Brown had liked
a pair of tweets that alluded to Ben getting away
with these despicable allegations.
If there were ever a chance before that these two
could bury the hatchet moving forward
this was the match that burned any and all remaining bridges
between Brown and his quarterback.
But Brown didn't stop there.
The very next day he took to social media
to accuse Ben of having an owners mentality
that he can call out anybody he pleases
with no means of recourse anyone can take.
Their GM Kevin Colbert was totally cool with it too,
even enabling that dynamic and alluded to Ben's 52 teammates
as kids which only served to underscore
and validate Brown's point.
Running back Le'Veon Bell fresh off signing a long sought
multi-year deal with the Jets explained that doing things
Ben's way was tough and that management allowed him
to become larger than the team.
The final straw came with the March 1st airing
of an episode of The Shop, a talk show produced
by LeBron James in which Brown executed
a rapid fire verbal assault on Ben.
- And all year the dude call me out, we lose a game
he like yeah AB shoulda ran a better route.
- Why would Ben do that?
- The type of guy he is.
He feel like he the owner.
Bro you threw this shit to the D-line.
How the (bleep) I'm gonna run the route wrong.
(laughing)
Give me a better ball.
- [Narrator] The very next day an interview with ESPN's
Jeff Darlington aired in which he went in some more
on Ben and their relationship.
- I would’ve liked for me and Ben able to be cool,
you know what I mean?
I thought we was cool but when I think,
I been in his house one time,
he been in my house one time.
You know what I mean?
We don't workout in the off season.
It's like yo, we really wanna win.
You think that's winning?
That's not winning.
That's not a winning culture.
- [Narrator] For Roethlisberger, the man who was never
bashful about speaking his mind and sparking controversy
on the radio, had pretty much gone totally silent
with nothing left to do but sit
and wait for the end to come.
And he didn't have to wait long.
A week later Brown's wish for a divorce
from Ben and the Steelers was granted
when they flipped him to the Raiders.
Problems that could've seemingly been hashed out
behind closed doors were instead
exacerbated when taken public.
Ben perceived his star wide receiver to be too
hot tempered, erratic and sloppy.
Brown thought the two rings won by his star quarterback
somehow managed to make his head even bigger
and felt slighted by a lack of respect
from his QB, while resenting the deference
the organization showed to Ben.
Things quickly spiraled out of control
when the two were forced to coexist as teammates.
Now that's ancient history.
Brown hasn't let his exit from Pittsburgh
diminish any hard feelings, whether toward his old
quarterback, GM or even fellow wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Anyway, click here for more QB, wide receiver beef
and while you're at it, check out the entire menu
of exquisitely procured beef.
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