Teammates angry at ‘selfish’ Harrison after signing with Pats
PITTSBURGH â The Steelers arenât happy about A.) answering questions about James Harrison signing with the New England Patriots, and B.) James Harrison signing with the New England Patriots.
Vince Williams tweeted his disgust about it on Tuesday but then deleted it.
Maurkice Pouncey said that Harrison ruined his legacy in Pittsburgh by signing there.
Bud Dupree became enraged while talking about it with a group of reporters before ending his interview.
Mike Mitchell wouldnât talk directly about âplayers that are not in Pittsburgh.â But Mitchell knows what itâs like to switch teams.
âBut I didnât switch to a team that was within conference,â he said tersely. âAnd I went for life-changing money, and I STILL chose a team that wasnât within the conference. Thatâs what teammates do.â
Marcus Gilbert was more direct. He lockers next to rookie T.J. Watt, who didnât want to talk about the departure of his veteran backup. But Gilbert did.
âThe thing I hate,â Gilbert started, âif heâs as real as he says he is, why doesnât he come out and tell his side of the story? His real side of the story? He didnât want to be here at all.â
Was Harrison disruptive?
âA distraction? Yeah,â Gilbert said. âI mean, if you donât want to be here, if you donât want to help the guys who are in front of you, like a rookie whoâs pretty much learning on his own, and Bud, whoâs a young guy, too, then thereâs no place for that here. Weâre all about winning. If you canât respect that, well, his wishes were granted. He wonât tell you guys that, but those were his wishes.â
Gilbert said he was aware Harrison wanted to leave âfrom the very beginning. It was one of these things where I feel like he needs to come out and say something. He knew he didnât want to be here. You canât tell your agent to go speak for him and say he wanted to be here, because that wasnât the case. A lot of guys were giving up blood, sweat and tears every weekend and this guy was selfish enough to not give a damn about any of these guys. That was every single week from the beginning of the season.â
âHe wanted out,â said Pouncey. âIt wasnât like the team said âWeâre going to let go of James Harrison.â James Harrison wanted out.
âItâs funny to read the stories. This is something that you wanted to do, itâs not like they got together and said weâre going to cut James. No, thatâs not what happened. He needs to come out and admit that.â
THE INFORMATION EXCHANGE
In attempting to downplay the effect of any information Harrison might relay to the Patriots, Ben Roethlisberger pointed back to the first game of the season.
âThe first time we played Cleveland I think Sammie Coates had just got picked up by them,â said Roethlisberger. âThat was obviously a big concern of ours, knowing our offense.â
Doesnât Harrison know the plays better than Coates did?
âOffensively? Maybe,â Roethlisberger joked. But Roethlisberger did reveal one concern.
âMy wife and I were talking last night,â he said Wednesday morning, âand she asked if he knew much of our no-huddle stuff. I donât think he knows a lot of it. Iâm sure heâs heard some of the same things for a lot of years now, so maybe some of it, but like I said, thatâs a long way off.â
Roethlisberger said that itâs an individual preference about how much information is exchanged.
âThatâs on James,â he said. âIf they want to ask him every single piece of information he has, then thatâs what this league does. Iâm not worried about it. We donât play them this week and we donât play them next week, so weâll see.â
AB MVP
Antonio Brown was named Steelers MVP for the fourth time in his seven seasons with the team. The five-time Pro Bowler leads the NFL in receiving yards (1,533) and is tied for second with 101 receptions, even though he missed the last 1.5 games with a calf injury. Heâs expected back for the playoffs.
Roethlisberger, whoâs been named team MVP only one time (2009) in his 14 seasons, was asked about his vote.
âMaurkice Pouncey,â he said. âI was a guy that voted a lot of years for Heath Miller, and to me MVP is the Most Valuable Player on this team, a guy that you just cannot do without, and to me itâs him. I could probably pick any of the linemen but heâs kind of the anchor of that group and the guy that means a lot to me, not just as a friend but for this team. Definitely deserves it in my book. I put a big 53 on my thing, too, and circled it, too.â
SACKING ROETHLISBERGER
Roethlisberger added a new layer to the oft-told story of him being sacked four times by Harrison during a 2001 college game.
Harrison had âthree fulls and two halvesâ of a five-sack Kent State performance against Roethlisberger with the final two sacks ending Miamiâs last threat in a 24-20 Kent State win. Roethlisbergerâs rushing total in the game was 14 carries for negative 54 yards.
âThat was actually a makeup game from Sept. 11,â Roethlisberger said. âWe had played in Hawaii the week before so it was supposed to be the last game of the year and a lot of my senior linemen arenât going to go on. They chose to stay out there, and James had a field day.â
Roethlisberger was asked why he didnât stay in Hawaii, but he misheard the question.
âThey stayed in Hawaii, yes,â he said. âIt happens in the MAC, I think, and not coming back to playing at â where did James go to school?â
When told Kent, Roethlisberger said that he knew and was joking.
STEVAN RIDLEY
What can you tell me about the exchange of info when players change teams?
It depends on where youâre at, it really does. Itâs football. Everybodyâs trying to get their advantage any way they can.
Would he bring Harrison in and grill him? The fans are happy you are here to provide Patriots information. Is there something there?
Man, Iâm coming to play ball. Thatâs it. Iâm coming to play ball. Itâs a rivalry. Itâs a competition. Like I said, weâre not in this thing to lose, weâre in this thing to win. Gaining every advantage.
Is Tomlin in it to win?
I think the play speaks for itself with this squad right here.
How much can it help?
You still have to go out there and execute on Sundays. You can have all the information that you want but at the end of the day itâs about execution. Like I said, you study, you prepare, you have your game plan and you have to have information to be prepared. Once you glean that information, once you prepare with it, itâs up to Sundays to go out there and put it on the field. Thatâs really the main thing. You can make it as hard or as easy as you want to. Different coaches, different philosophies.
One turnover can change any grand plan.
Youâre talking football. Youâre talking football. There you go.
Were you particularly sore after this past game? After not playing in a while?
I was. I was a little bit â Iâll say knocking the rust off. Thatâs what it was. Getting off the couch and getting on the field, itâs a big jump. But thatâs part of being a pro, also, is taking care of your body and knowing yourself, so Iâm going to spend this week, four or five days, to get back, and thatâs what you do to feel the best that you can. You never feel as good as you do after the first day. It doesnât matter if itâs practice, games, whatever, youâve just got to come in there and prepare youself to go out and play and produce.
You looked good in practice. How much did fresh legs have to do with that?
Itâs really finding your rhythm. I believe in that. Yeah Iâm fresh. Iâm a lot fresher than 90 percent of these guys whoâve played 15 weeks in a row. But fresh isnât always the best. Itâs good, because your body hasnât had the beating, but when guys have been in here and they have their rhythm and they have their timing, theyâve been running, thatâs when you realize youâve got some catching up to do. Being fresh isnât the answer. Iâve got work to do, and thatâs how Iâm approaching it.
You should be ready for the playoffs right?
Thatâs the goal.