pittsburgh steelers captain cameron heyward objected to by Ben Roethlisberger recent claim that too many current NFL players have “a me-type attitude,” saying his former teammate’s comments “bother me.”
Roethlisberger, in a wide-ranging interview published Friday by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazettehe said “the game has changed” and “people have changed” when addressing the differences he noticed between his early and later years with the Steelers.
“The team was very important,” Roethlisberger said, referring to his first few seasons with Pittsburgh. “It was all about the team. Now, it’s about me and this, that and the other.”
“I may be standing on a soap box a little bit, but that’s my biggest lesson from when I started to the end. I went from a team-first attitude to a me-type attitude. It was tough. It’s tough for these young guys, Also. Social media. They’re treated so well in college. Now this new stuff from NIL, which is amazing. They’re treated so special. They’re spoiled at a young age because college coaches need them to win too. I know coach [Terry] Hoeppner never spoiled me. either [Bill] cow”.
Heyward was Roethlisberger’s teammate from 2011 until last season, when the future Hall of Fame quarterback retired. On the most recent edition of his podcast, Heyward said that he disagreed with Roethlisberger’s remark and said that it made him “a little bit angry.”
“It seems like we’re seen as selfish players, and I don’t think that’s the point,” the veteran defensive lineman said on the “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward” podcast. “We have a lot of young players who come from different backgrounds, they’ve experienced different things than others or I may have experienced. That doesn’t make them selfish or more of a me-type attitude… There are a lot more first-team guys than kind of me. I was offended by that.”
Heyward, 33, cited several current and former Steelers, including anthony brown, Ju Ju Smith-Schuster, Tyson Alualu and Brett Keisel, who had a positive impact on the locker room and organization, referring to them as “guys who put the team first” despite criticism of their personalities.
Team captain since 2015, Heyward also said “it’s up to the leadership, myself included” to help acclimate young players to the NFL and the culture of the Steelers, who won two Super Bowls under Roethlisberger.
“I’m responsible for those guys,” Heyward said. “Obviously, we haven’t had a Super Bowl in a long time, and maybe that’s where Ben says, ‘Man, if only those guys had grown up.’ But it’s up to the older guys to step up and hold the guys accountable… It’s up to a vet to take you under your wing and throw yourself in and say, ‘Hey, this is what it’s like to be a Pittsburgh Steeler.’ And that’s what I’m trying to do.
“Maybe Ben didn’t see it that way, but man, I’m going to protect my guys. You just can’t say it’s an ‘attitude guy’ now. Everybody wants to be a Super Bowl winner, go for it.” money, one day to be an MVP. But when it all comes together, we care about one thing, this logo here… I’ve always tried to extend that to my younger teammates. I think Ben was a little off. That.”
Roethlisberger, 40, played his entire 18-year career as the Steelers’ starting quarterback before retiring last January. He was a six-time Pro Bowler, finished his career with the fifth-most passing yards (64,088) in NFL history and led the Steelers to Super Bowl championships after the 2005 and 2008 seasons.
Heyward emphasized that he was not “casting shade” on Roethlisberger, saying that he was “explaining my point of view”.
“Don’t say Cam is calling Ben, isn’t he,” Heyward said. “But I will say, I will protect my team. I will make sure everyone knows that we only care about football on the field and less so off the field. We can all understand that Ben has been a great quarterback.” don’t play this game and become a Hall of Fame quarterback and do it at a low level.
“Ben has taken some hits that a lot of other teams couldn’t. He saved us, he won games we weren’t supposed to win, and he always stepped up. But it was the team around him that helped him do it, and I don’t want them to. Let’s not forget that the whole team won, not just Ben.”