Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger apparently feels remorseful over how he reacted to a Week 12 loss to the Denver Broncos in 2018.
Roethlisberger, who threw a late-game interception in the end zone, went on his radio show in late November and pointed out wide receiver Antonio Brown's route running on the turnover. The signal-caller also took issue with offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner not going with JuJu Smith-Schuster enough on the final drive.
The commentary drew backlash, and six months later found Roethlisberger offering an apology in a taped segment scheduled to air Monday night on KDKA, the local CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh.
"I took some heat and deservedly so for some of the comments on that show and especially towards him," Roethlisberger said of Brown, via Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan. "I genuinely feel bad about that and I'm sorry. Did I go too far after that Denver game? Probably. ...
"That's the thing about media and social media, As soon as you say 'sorry' it only goes so far. You can't take it back. And I wish I could because if that's what ruined our friendship and relationship, I'm truly, genuinely sorry about that."
The relationship between Roethlisberger and Brown rapidly deteriorated following the quarterback's public comments, and Brown was ultimately traded to the Oakland Raiders in March.
It's been an interesting offseason for the Steelers, but especially Roethlisberger, whose leadership came into question in the wake of the 2018 season.
General manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin, however, have remained steadfast on Roethlisberger's leadership style. Colbert said in late March, "we feel comfortable knowing Ben is our quarterback and our leader," while Tomlin followed shortly thereafter by stating he had no issues with Roethlisberger's "play or leadership."
Whatever is going on, Roethlisberger appears to be fully aware of the outside perceptions.
He recently spent time with teammates at a lake house, and now comes a public apology to Brown. Whether the latter is enough to repair a friendship remains to be seen.
For his part, Brown took to Twitter later in the afternoon with a two-word tweet:
While Brown didn't exactly state what he's referring to, connecting the dots shouldn't be that hard, right?
