ThePittsburgh Steelershad another disappointing season after failing to reach, once again, the playoffs. Though they won six of their last seven games, a 9-8 record wasn’t enough to clinch a Wild Card ticket in the AFC. This was the first year afterBen Roethlisbergerannounced hisretirement.
Mitch Trubiskybegan as the starter, but, prior to Week 5, head coachMike Tomlin made the call thousands of fans were expecting. RookieKenny Pickettwas in charge. For Tomlin, the streak of no losing seasons continued with sixteen. However, theSteelershaven’t won a playoff game in the last six years. That’s not a great standard for a franchise with sixSuper Bowls.
Now, while talking about the Kansas City Chiefs and their win at the Super Bowl, Ben Roethlisberger had a subtle message of criticism for Mike Tomlinand the Pittsburgh Steelers while praising Andy Reid. Read here to check out the details.
Ben Roethlisberger praises Andy Reid over Mike Tomlin
Ben Roethlisberger spokewonders about Andy Reid in his podcast and many fans believe he never talked like that about his former head coach in Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin. “I have to just congratulate Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy. They just are so stinking good. They are different level coaches. They are up here. They are going to be up there (Kansas City Chiefs) as long as Andy Reid’s there and Patrick Mahomes are there.”
Furthermore, Ben Roethlisberger praised one specific aspect of Andy Reid’s strategy: play calling. During his last years with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Big Ben had a lot of differences regarding this subject with head coach MIke Tomlin.”To me, Andy Reid should go down as one of the best of all time. I heard he lets players like design plays and he will contemplate putting them in. To truly have an open door and listen to guys and not just say, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll think about it.’ They are just so good.”
So, after this controversial statement in Episode 21 of his podcast “Footbahlin with BenRoethlisberger”, many experts believe the former quarterback showed his frustration with Mike Tomlin about having no voice in the offensive calls for the team.
It’s important to remember that, during Ben’s last season (2021), players admitted that the system worked better when Roethlisberger called thetwo-minute drill over offensive coordinator, Matt Canada. Then, in 2022, Canada and Mike Tomlin werecriticized again regarding the strategydeveloped for rookie Kenny Pickett.