Ben Roethlisberger broke his silence Monday in an interview with KDKA's Bob Pompeani. Throughout the five-minute segment, Roethlisberger addressed the Antonio Brown saga from all angles.
Following is a transcript from the interview.
On his long silence: "In the offseason, I like to just be with family and be away and stay away from the craziness, because the media is my life during football season. When I can get a break from it, I try to get a break from it."
What happened to WiFi? "You're right. AB made me who I am. He was the greatest wide receiver I'd ever played with. And the things that he did in this league and that we did together are amongst the best of all time. You're right, there [were] some great things and then all of a sudden it just kind of, it disappeared, and I'm not really sure where it went. We always worked through it. We always came out the other side smiling and hugged it out and enjoyed it and moved on. This kind of, I really don't know..."
On public criticism of Brown: "It's a fine line to walk sometimes of giving information out, giving kind of some cool things for the fans to be a part of and maybe saying too much. And I know that I took some heat, and deservedly so, for some of the comments that I've made on that show, especially towards him. And I genuinely feel bad about that and I'm sorry. Did I go too far after that Denver game? Probably.
"I can see where that comment was perceived to be negative toward AB. But it wasn't meant that way. It was more, just like everything during the season, it's a compliment to AB because he's doubled every single play. That's why it's so... it's still so amazing he was able to do it through all the adversity of double and triple teams. It was more meant that I should've gone to JuJu because he was single-covered, and I regretted it. That's the thing about media and social media and things like that is, as soon as you say it, 'sorry' only goes so far, and you can't take it back. And I wish I could, because if that's what ruined our friendship and our relationship, then I truly am genuinely sorry about that."
On 'not the leader' comments: "They were hurtful. And it was hurtful to myself. It was hurtful to my family. I always want to get better. I always strive to be the best that I can be. And last year we weren't good enough. We lost six games. We didn't make the playoffs, and so I need to, as a leader of that football team, because leadership ultimately is about winning football games — and I didn't do a good enough job of being a leader because we didn't make the playoffs. There's more than one leader in that locker room, and we're lucky to have them. It's Ramon Foster, it's Maurkice Pouncey, Cam Heyward, just to name a few."
Has he reached out to Brown? "I left him some messages, called him. I haven't heard back, but I'm sure he's getting busy with his season, getting ready as I am with the guys that we have here. But I really am looking forward to reconnecting with him, talking, because like I said, he's a good friend of mine. I still call him a good friend, and I hope that we can reconnect and I hope that our friendship can continue to grow."
