To me it all starts with the head coach, Mike Tomlin,” Ward said “When you give some leniency with players based on whatever, you’re only fining them — a player can only do what you allow them to do.”
“The circus and the culture that has been provided now, that’s not the standard of the Pittsburgh Steelers. We’re talking more about the Steelers off the field than on the field. That’s very unusual. We have to have some rules and regulation from Mike Tomlin to delegate down to the players knowing not one player isn’t bigger than the team.”
Ward said it's hard to believe the Steelers missed the playoffs. Along with Tomlin, he singled out Roethlisberger for publicly criticizing teammates, including Brown.
“For Pittsburgh, for all the talent they have, they beat the Patriots in the regular season, to miss the playoffs? That’s a reflection of the head coach and the players,” Ward said. “It’s not just all about AB’s shenanigans. Ben Roethlisberger, when you have a radio show, you can’t critique players in the open. We had one motto when I was playing, it was, ‘Keep my name out your mouth in the media.’ Whatever you say to the media, you can talk to me as a grown man.”
Ward contrasted the Steelers culture with that of the Patriots, who will be playing in their third Super Bowl in a row.
“It starts with the coach, it starts with Ben Roethlisberger, you’re the captain.”
