Former Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders says that if Ben Roethlisberger were a better leader, some of the issues with Antonio Brown wouldn’t have arisen.
Sanders said on NFL Network that Roethlisberger should have taken it upon himself to see to it that things never reached the point where Brown is now on the trade block. Brown said that he and other Steelers receivers have noticed that Roethlisberger will go on the radio and blame them for problems with the team’s passing game, and it wears on the team over time.
“Me and Mike Wallace used to talk about this,” Sanders said. “If Ben called me out on a radio show, I would walk up to him and say, ‘Don’t do that. Keep my name out of your mouth.’”
Sanders said when he signed with the Broncos that he instantly saw how Peyton Manning was a better leader than Roethlisberger, and Sanders reiterated those comments this weekend.
“You’re the leader of this team. Be a leader,” Sanders said. “That’s the reason why my comments, when I first became a Denver Bronco, and I said Peyton Manning is a better leader than Ben Roethilsberger, all that has come to fruition. I don’t lie. I don’t hate anybody. I just speak the truth. And that’s the truth.”
Sanders isn’t alone in feeling that way. Just because Brown was in the wrong in how he acted during the last week of the season, that doesn’t mean Roethlisberger hasn’t been in the wrong in his dealings with his receivers, too.