Steelers

Porter: Roethlisberger uses ‘power’ for himself

Dejan Kovacevic
Posted on

And now, Joey Porter, too.

Do try to look surprised.

Porter, removed after last season as the Steelers' outside linebackers coach, appeared on NFL Network in a segment with Terrell Davis, the Broncos' Hall of Fame running back, and one of the topics was how quarterbacks apply the 'power' that, as both acknowledged, all of them have in a team setting.

Davis praised John Elway for having used his power to lobby for days off for his teammates, particularly the offensive linemen, when he felt they were too banged up.

To that, Porter replied regarding Roethlisberger, “It’s clear he has the power. And how he uses it? He uses it for him."

He added that the Steelers would have a healthier environment if Roethlisberger were more popular within the room, saying, "You want your locker room to love you."

Porter also blamed Roethlisberger for the failed relationship with Antonio Brown, absolving Brown of not answering Roethlisberger's calls or texts after their famed flap at a midweek practice before the season finale.

“Once you have a bad situation, they’re not going to pick up the phone,” Porter said. “If you feel slighted by any teammate – friends, teammates – once you feel like you’ve been betrayed in any type of way, I’m not picking up your phone call. You can’t call me and say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry’ the next day. I need you to be sorry when you did it. You can’t be sorry that late, so those relationships went the other way. Now that he’s being a man and apologizing now, it’s a couple days too late. All of that probably could’ve been avoided if he was coming to them and saying, ‘I didn’t handle that the right way.’ But that’s the way he chose to go about it.”

Here's more of that:

DK'S VIEW

Now, for fuller context, Porter was very much part of the problem in the Steelers' little world, a boor off the field to the point he had trouble with the law, and a divisive presence in the locker room, known to have been pitting defense vs. offense. The latter is only the biggest cultural no-no in a football setting.

If he wants a good view of what a healthier environment looks like for this team, he can start by looking in the mirror and appreciating that he's no longer part of this one.

I did, however, find his remarks about Devin Bush to be interesting:

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