James Harrison Calls Ben Roethlisberger To Clear The Air

The comments to Goodell were harsh but we’ve heard him say similar things about Goodell before. It was the comments on Roethlisberger that really made me scratch my head.

”Hey, at least throw a pick on their side of the field instead of asking the D to bail you out again. Or hand the ball off and stop trying to act like Peyton Manning. You ain’t that and you know it, man; you just get paid like he does.”

Harrison was previously booked to do ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday night but later canceled that appearance. It seemed as if someone advised him against going on the show in order to kill the story now rather than letting it linger.

That’s not the only bit of PR work Harrison’s camp has done. ESPN’s Merril Hoge reports (via Adam Schefter) that Harrison called Roethlisberger on Wednesday morning -- shortly after the quotes were made public -- to explain that “the writer twisted many of his comments and it was not his intention to criticize the QB.” Per Hoge, their relationship is “fine” and Roethlisberger believes Harrison.

It’s a pretty standard move to claim their words were “twisted” in a situation like this. That’s why we’ll never know whether Harrison’s words truly were “twister” or if he’s trying to get himself out of trouble.