Ben Roethlisberger said Wednesday morning that even his wife, Ashley, asked him how much inside information James Harrison will be able to tell the Patriots about the Steelers offense.
"My wife and I were talking last night and she asked me if he knows much of our no-huddle stuff," Roethlisberger said Wednesday, a day after Harrison signed with New England following his release by the Steelers. "I told her I think he knows a lot of it. I'm sure he's heard the same things for a lot of years, so maybe some of it. But that's a long way off."
A potential rematch between the Steelers and Patriots wouldn't occur until the AFC Championship four weeks from now. And plenty can change between now and then.
The Steelers have already been in this situation once before this season. Receiver Sammie Coates was traded to Cleveland when teams trimmed their rosters to 53 players. Two weeks later, the Steelers opened the season against the Browns.
"The first time we played Cleveland, Sammie Coates had just gotten picked up by them," Roethlisberger said. "That was obviously a big concern of ours, (him) knowing our offense. That's on James. If they want to ask him every piece of information he has, that's what other people do. I'm not worried about it. We don't play them this week. We don't play them next week. We'll see."
But, Roethlisberger did admit that the Steelers had to change some things with Coates on the other sideline.
"A couple of things," he said. "We tweaked some things, just because it was so fresh."
As for signing with the Patriots, Roethlisberger said he wasn't necessarily upset by Harrison's decision.
"James has to do what James has to do," Roethlisberger said. "It's not like he called and asked me. James was out there as a free agent. I wish him the best. I had a lot of good years with him."
It's not the first time Harrison has signed with a Steelers rival after being released by the team.
He did so in 2003 with Baltimore, though he was released before the season began and eventually re-signed by the Steelers. He also signed with Cincinnati in 2013 after the Steelers released him in a salary cap-related move.
Harrison and Roethlisberger also played each other once in college when the quarterback was a freshman at Miami (Ohio) and Harrison was a senior at Kent. Kent won the Nov. 24, 2001 game, 24-20, holding the Red Hawks to minus-1 yard rushing. Roethlisberger threw for 236 yards but had minus-54 yards in rushing because of sacks.
"It was a makeup game from 9/11. We played in Hawaii in what was supposed to be the last game of the year, so a lot of my senior linemen who weren't going to go on chose to stay out there. James had a field day," Roethlisberger said.
"I've been blessed to play with one of the best guys, football players, defensive football players for a long time. We've played in a lot of games together, the biggest games, he made one of the greatest defensive plays in Super Bowl history. It's truly been an honor to call him a friend and a teammate. I'll miss him. I've only had to go against him a few times when he was in Cincinnati. It won't be the same without him. He was the oldest; now I'm the oldest."