Former star Steelers running back Jerome Bettis says he's "disappointed" with recent comments Harrison made in an upcoming issue of Men's Journal. Not so much, apparently, the ones pertaining to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, but the ones in which he said that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger needed to "stop trying to act like Peyton Manning," and that running back Rashard Mendenhall was a "fumble machine."
Steeler Great Jerome Bettis ‘Disappointed’ With James Harrison
“It’s disappointing to hear some of the comments he made about his teammates because this is a team game,” Bettis said in comments aired on NFL Network. “It’s not an offense against defense type situation. It’s a team and you’ve got to go out there and compete as a team.”
Bettis suggests that if Harrison had issues with either player, he should have talked to them out of earshot of the press. He’s right, of course - it’s terrible form to call out one’s teammates the way Harrison did.
It doesn’t sound like Harrison’s relationship with either player will be an issue. Harrison told Roethlisberger that the writer of the Men’s Journal piece “twisted” his words, and Roethlisberger evidently believed him. Mendenhall, meanwhile, dismissed Harrison’s comments, saying, “I know him.“ But that doesn’t mean Harrison was right to express opinions in the press that might divide the Steelers’ locker room.
For more on James Harrison and the Steelers, check out Behind The Steel Curtain and SB Nation Pittsburgh.
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