Porter rips Ben

[Deebo]

Everyone knows Ben was a dickhead early on

I think everyone also knows, Ben wasn’t exactly the most diligent about preparation or staying in shape

With that being said, Joey Porter was always a loudmouth jackass; who generally carried on the persona of being an actual thug

And while I have no idea what kind of teammate Porter was, as a player he was good. Maybe very good. He’ll never be nominated for the Hall of Fame. In general, he was a medium impact player on the field with quite a few top-tier individuals.

The point being if either of the players has the authority to speak out about the Steelers, it is certainly not Joey Porter.

Hopefully somebody with a few more brain cells, has given porters some advice and told him to STFU.

The guy who really needs to give a rest is Cam with his stupid podcast. He's still an effective player, leave it at that and get the fuck off the airwaves.

It's all about "brand building" nowadays. It's become so loathsome that everyone wants a platform

[Dan Smith--BYU]

There are way too many retired player podcasts out there.

A few are good including Boomer's.

[Jobu]

Any time someone sticks a microphone in front of an athlete/ex-athlete’s face, there is a good chance something stupid is gonna happen.
Personally, I have no interest in anything these guys have to say. “We don’t care!”

[anpsteel]

Everyone knows Ben was a dickhead early on

I think everyone also knows, Ben wasn’t exactly the most diligent about preparation or staying in shape

With that being said, Joey Porter was always a loudmouth jackass; who generally carried on the persona of being an actual thug

And while I have no idea what kind of teammate Porter was, as a player he was good. Maybe very good. He’ll never be nominated for the Hall of Fame. In general, he was a medium impact player on the field with quite a few top-tier individuals.

The point being if either of the players has the authority to speak out about the Steelers, it is certainly not Joey Porter.

Hopefully somebody with a few more brain cells, has given porters some advice and told him to STFU.

The guy who really needs to give a rest is Cam with his stupid podcast. He's still an effective player, leave it at that and get the fuck off the airwaves.

It's all about "brand building" nowadays. It's become so loathsome that everyone wants a platform

It’s the Pat MacAfee effect


Everyone sees what he’s done and wants to duplicate it

[CKSteeler]

The guy who really needs to give a rest is Cam with his stupid podcast. He's still an effective player, leave it at that and get the fuck off the airwaves.

It's all about "brand building" nowadays. It's become so loathsome that everyone wants a platform

It’s the Pat MacAfee effect


Everyone sees what he’s done and wants to duplicate it

You know a good chunk of these douchebags are arrogant enough to say to themselves that he was just a punter and people listen to HIM so of course they'll tune into their bullshit.

But yea every team seems to have like a dozen guys on it who have their own podfcasts now and they basically cycle through doing appearances on each others streams.

[bradshaw2ben]

I think everyone also knows, Ben wasn’t exactly the most diligent about preparation or staying in shape

I don't think there's any reason to assume that's a fact. For starters, in 2007, Ben started obvious improvementI in presnap reads and can tell you when watching 2009 it was obvious that Ben was greatly improved at postsnap reads. You don't just get better at that by accident. He was studying tape and studying his ass off. It could be that he really didn't take that seriously until 2006 knocked him around a little as the league adjusted. But dude worked hard and implying that he didn't is just denying the facts to fit a narrative.

[Dan Smith--BYU]

Ben partied hard when he could and did not take care of his body like Brady or LeBron or Kobe or even Tiger. That's well documented.

[CKSteeler]

Ben partied hard when he could and did not take care of his body like Brady or LeBron or Kobe or even Tiger. That's well documented.

Yet despite a far more physical play style, he still kept it going into his 40's.

So much was made about how Peyton was some football genius for his ability to run the no-huddle and "orchestrate" his offense. An offense that was actually one of the most basic in the league which is what enabled him to do what he did to begin with. An offense that basically folded every January in large part because of it's simplicity.

Ben reportedly could call most if not all of the playbook from the no-huddle at his peak. There were relative crickets and none of the adoration. His coaches refused to let him use it full time to protect his defense.

There's again enough there to Ben's work ethic to make me think that he wasn't the guy who wanted to sit there after practice and throw passes to Emmanuel Sanders over and over again. But he put in enough work to where he was pretty damn good at figuring out coverages and exploiting them. Could call plays better than any coordinator he ever had. Was that all just by accident? There's probably a bit more to it than that.

So much of the criticism leveled at Ben over the years comes from guys, mostly on defense, who resented his status. If Ben had tried to be a leader on those early Steelers teams, he would have been told to shut-up and sit down by resentful veterans on both sides of the ball. Then later you have the occasional moron like Brown who thought he was more valuable than the franchise QB. And then there's the segment of fans who despise him because of things they've heard and sided with guys like Brown.

Brown was always apparently an asshole behind closed doors, but we were subjected to endless puff pieces on his great work ethic while Ben was denigrated for his supposed laziness.

Everyone praises Tomlin for keeping Brown under control, but let's be blunt. Brown was kept in check because he was producing at a high level and he did that because Ben was capable AND willing to force feed the ball to Brown. Sometimes at the expense of the rest of the offense even. It's why despite the way things ended Brown has come out and basically said that he preferred playing with Ben to Tom fucking Brady. He got a ring with Brady, but what he cared about were those stats and his ego. Ben enabled that like no other QB in the league would have. Is that a knock on Ben or praise? A little bit of both because of what a talent Brown was.

But the real point is that Ben doesn't get credit for any thing. People dislike him. And because they dislike him anything and everything he ever did was twisted into the worst possible light.

Ben stood up on the Super Bowl podium and heaped praise on the worst OL to ever win the game in 2008. Crickets.

Ben makes one negative statement about Brown on the radio and he blows the fuck up. Headlines everywhere about how awful Ben is. Former (mostly black) _NFL players rally to Brown's defense for a year or so and then there's crickets when his entire career goes to shit because he's a nutcase who can't handle his own ego. Or you'll get the occasional praise thrown at Tomlin because he supposedly controlled Brown for so long.

The only other negative comment I can recall Ben making about a teammate was directed at a rookie WR. A rookie who DID need to pull his head out of his ass.

Aaron Rodgers threw his young WR's under the bus all year long even while dancing around naming them specifically (though he has in the past). Lauded for his superb leadership skills. Force fed the ball to a scrub in a key sequence of plays with the division on the line because that guy was a vet he was familiar with. A vet who made mental mistakes on top of lacking the physical tools. Rodgers just kept going right back to him despite that.

What the fuck is leadership? Ben got his WR's paid. He took the young WR's and he continued to give them chances to make plays -even when they screwed up. Rarely said anything negative, didn't show them up with ridiculous tantrums on the field making clear who was at fault. He partied with his OL and defended them every chance he got no matter how poorly they were playing. He never blamed coaching. When they lost, he blamed himself. He accepted that he was always going to be knocked down a peg compared to his peers playing for a defensive coach in this organization, but ALWAYS said he preferred winning to racking up stats.

So let's reiterate. Aaron Rodgers throws guys under the bus and seemingly refuses to work with his young WR's flaws to make them better. Force feeds the ball to a scrub he's comfortable with even while he fucks up basic routes. Superb leader, let's re-sign him.

Ben has like two comments directed at his WR's in a 18 year career. God, what a piece of shit.

-Ben is obviously a very flawed individual who rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but the man literally gets credit for almost anything he did or achieved. It's mind blowing to me honestly.

I wouldn't call him a great leader because leadership is largely about perception and results. When it was *his* team, they simply didn't quite get over the hump. But the notion that he was a bad leader

[CKSteeler]

Final point, Ben is more of a Steeler than Joey fucking Porter frankly. Saying he can't speak on Steelers business when he is the key piece that helped them win 2 Super Bowls and QB'ed the team for two decades, but some blowhard LB who disappeared for large stretches and made an ass out of himself in his own ways repeatedly can is the fucking problem.

You have a scrub like Steven Nelson who feels free to opine on Ben. Says the team should have kept him rather than paying Ben fucking Roethlisberger.

There isn't any other franchise QB any of these clowns would feel free to level this shit at besides Ben regardless of how much of a dick they may have been at times. Even these clowns who lack self-awareness know they'd get destroyed if they came out and said something negative about, say, Peyton Manning had they played for him.

But every one of the idiots who played defense here seems to feel they were the key to success. It's mind blowing to me, as well.

Like yea Steve you were the 10th or 11th best player on the defense for a few years. We are totally going to cut our franchise QB of nearly two decades to give you a pay raise when you're still under contract for another year or whatever it was.

People are siding with this scrub. Not because they believed it at the time or anything. But just because they hate Ben.

[MJG75]

Love them both. Both helped us win games and championships. I preferred life when we heard less from these guys.

I look at Ben like this. And I take it from a quote by Mean Joe about Franco: "Before Franco, we didn't win any Super Bowls, and we didn't win any after Franco". For Ben, we would have never got "One for the Thumb" without Ben. And, we wouldn't be able to strut around and say we are tied for most Super Bowls without Ben. I just wish he had got us to 7, which would have been poetic. But the NFL was never going to allow that in 2010. They humiliated Ben and made him lose some of his magic mojo; they took the teeth out of what might have been a more dominant defense than the 08 guys by changing rules mid-fucking season; and then the Fat Fuck Peter King with his pre SB hit piece to get as many viewers rooting against Ben as possible.

Ben was a warrior. One of the toughest QBs to ever play the game, he can take pride in being in the lineage of Y.A. Tittle. As some have said, he was a football player who just happened to play QB. Look, he was an alpha, and he should have been. Don't like it, get out of the way.

The Blonde Bomber once said that you can take a look at those 4 SBs, and the plays I made to win each of them. "That's who I am", and that is all we want him to be. Countless sports legends are notorious for being dicks. It doesn't show in their stats or their rings. We don't cheer them on for being "nice guys". We want TDs, wins, championships. Ben's got two. That is who he is.

[Gonzo]

‘Aaron Rodgers threw his young WR's under the bus all year long even while dancing around naming them specifically (though he has in the past). Lauded for his superb leadership skills. Force fed the ball to a scrub in a key sequence of plays with the division on the line because that guy was a vet he was familiar with. A vet who made mental mistakes on top of lacking the physical tools. Rodgers just kept going right back to him despite that.’

That’s a bingo

And I would add to that …. While running like a scared cat from any hint of pressure

[Thrillsseeker]

Bravo to CK and MJG.

(Insertslowclap)

[stairway 2 seven]

Ben wouldnt sign autographs for teamate's family members
Ben criticized A.B. on his radio show and said he should flattened out his route.
Those are the only specific criticisms ive heard about on field behavior from Ben. They say he was a 'bad teammate'or 'bad leader' but never say anything else.
Honest question. What else did he do or say team related that was so bad?

[CKSteeler]

Ben wouldnt sign autographs for teamate's family members
Ben criticized A.B. on his radio show and said he should flattened out his route.
Those are the only specific criticisms ive heard about on field behavior from Ben. They say he was a 'bad teammate'or 'bad leader' but never say anything else.
Honest question. What else did he do or say team related that was so bad?

That's where I'm at. If Porter is going to go there to this extent, just come out with it and say it. Give the specifics or why even bother? It's just high school girl crap. You trash a guy and break the code of the locker room, but still hide behind it so you don't have to give the details.

[.Kodiak]

That's where I'm at. If Porter is going to go there to this extent, just come out with it and say it. Give the specifics or why even bother? It's just high school girl crap. You trash a guy and break the code of the locker room, but still hide behind it so you don't have to give the details.

To me it's fairly obvious - Ben was one of the greats, and that drive makes him an asshole to guys just there for a paycheck You hear it about all the greats - Rodgers, Brady, Manning, Jordan, Bird, etc....

Ben made a comment about Tomlin not being hard enough on the younger guys. My guess is it didn't end there, and rubber players the wrong way with the country club Tomlin was creating.

In short, Ben was surrounded by a bunch of guys who didn't want to put in the work to be champions.

[swissvale72]

Listening to Madden/Benz yesterday. Madden,,like us, is of the opinion that Steelers should tell cam to end that fuckin podcast. And Benz added his belief that Rodgers was assisted in his relationship with teammates and the organization by ending his appearances on mcafee, with Madden adding that he was told by Steelers management to end it. Sounds right

[Deebo]

Zach Banner...the perennial Pro Bowler chimes in

https://steelersdepot.com/2026/02/zach- ... ke-tomlin/

[drmalba]

Zach Banner...the perennial Pro Bowler chimes in

https://steelersdepot.com/2026/02/zach- ... ke-tomlin/

Why the eye roll?

- He backed up Ben, said Porter is full of shit
- respectfully said to Cam And Joe Haden they would be better served to remove themselves from toxic team discussions entirely
- said too many ex- Steelers (Nelson, deebo, etc) are too busy exploiting grievances for media clout chasing, that is in turn feeding degenerate national media and soap opera fans
- challenged Harrison directly on his assessment of Tomlin. (Ok, Rather forcefully).

No he wasn't a pro bowler, but he was a Steeler and in the locker room for four seasons with Mike Tomlin. He's an entitled to share his opinion as anyone, certainly moreso than Steven Nelson, who was bareley there for a cup of coffee.

[.Kodiak]

Zach Banner...the perennial Pro Bowler chimes in

https://steelersdepot.com/2026/02/zach- ... ke-tomlin/

I sense a pattern emerging. The lazy, entitled players Tomlin enabled like him and defend him. Champions - HOFers - like Ben and Harrison know better.

[.Kodiak]

Zach Banner...the perennial Pro Bowler chimes in

https://steelersdepot.com/2026/02/zach- ... ke-tomlin/

Why the eye roll?

- He backed up Ben, said Porter is full of shit

Well, the quote linked said "shut your mouth about Coach T". Don't know anything about the other stuff you mentioned.

[Jobu]

Posted this in the wrong thread. Put it here where it belongs.

Define bad teammate. I’m sure it’s different for everyone. I bet we could find several former Steelers that believes ole Peezy was a poor teammate. But they aren’t going on podcasts or TV or radio shows throwing him under the bus to stay relevant. And it’s certainly not out of fear. Porter has always come across to me as one of those fake tough guys. The guy that runs his mouth and acts all tough as long as there is someone or something standing between him and an ass kicking.