Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers is one of the toughest quarterbacks in the NFL, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hurt his feelings.
Roethlisberger has a reputation as a player who can stand in the pocket and take all kinds of punishment and still deliver passes on a dime. He plays through injuries all the time and is generally recognized as one of the toughest customers in football.
Even Big Ben is not immune to the poison that words can carry, it seems.
You might recall that last summer Roethlisberger’s former teammate Emmanuel Sanders made some disparaging comments about him.
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Speaking on 104.3 The Fan in Denver, Sanders said that Big Ben could not compare to the leadership of one Peyton Manning:
“I feel like Peyton is a far better leader, in terms of staying after practice, catching balls, wanting guys to get on the same page with him, things of that sort, He’s not one of those guys you’ve got to chase down. He’s going to be right in the same spot, ready to work, every single day…”
Roethlisberger did not take too kindly to those comments. At the time he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he was confused and hurt:
“Whether he meant it or not, it hurt in a sense that I tried so hard to keep him here last year and was always supporting him… I always talked to him. When he had a baby, I was trying to help him.”
Fast forward a year and a half and it sounds like Sanders’ comments might still be stinging the Steelers’ franchise quarterback. Earlier this week Roethlisberger told Cameron Wolfe of the Denver Post that he was still confused as to why Sanders said what he did:
“I’m not sure why Emmanuel, still up to this day, he never reached out to me,” Roethlisberger said. “I was always on his side and in his corner when he was down or things weren’t going well.”
Roethlisberger’s Steelers will meet Sanders’ Broncos this coming Sunday in a matchup that might have critical playoff seeding implications.
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It’s interesting that since those comments were made Peyton Manning’s game has fallen off so much and he was recently benched in favor of Brock Osweiler. Meanwhile, Roethlisberger is having arguably the best year of his career.
Big Ben does not need any extra motivation to go out and perform well this week, but he certainly has a good reason, just in case.