Ben Roethlisberger had a bad reputation as a young player that had nothing to do with his legal troubles. Whispers followed him everywhere that he wasn't well-liked by his Steelers teammates.
Roethlisberger now admits he didn't get along with many of his teammates when he first broke into the league.
"I'd be the first to admit I wasn't a good teammate early in my career," Roethlisberger told Dan Pompeii in an interesting piece for Bleacher Report. "With time, you understand you can't keep being a selfish player or person. It's the ultimate team sport, and in order to be successful, you have to be selfless."
Big Ben reportedly clashed with Hines Ward early in the career. Now, Pompeii makes the case Roethlisberger might just be the best teammate in the league, which is a dubious claim. Being the best teammate is like being the "most humble" or the "classiest" or calling yourself a "man of principle." Simply talking about it rules you out from consideration.
In fairness to Roethlisberger, it was his teammates who talked him up in Pompeii's piece.
"He has made me a better person by talking about life things, family things," Antonio Brown said. "He has told me about mistakes he has made and encouraged me not to make the same mistakes."
It's an article worth reading. Roethlisberger undeniably has matured on the field as a player. It looks like he recognized a weakness in leadership off the field, and was thorough in taking steps to correct that.
We believe this Steelers team has the talent on both sides of the ball to make another Super Bowl run under Roethlisberger. Being known as a good teammate is nice, but getting the respect as one of the best quarterbacks of all time would be a lot better. Another title would go a long way toward that.
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