First Call: Jay Glazer unhappy with response to his jab at Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger

Wednesday’s “First Call” features NFL insider Jay Glazer’s latest attempt to clarify his characterization of Ben Roethlisberger’s workout habits. More heat on New York Jets coach Adam Gase for how he is using Le’Veon Bell. And there is a large Pittsburgh presence on the Pro Football Focus All-Decade team.

Overcorrection?

The Jay Glazer-Ben Roethlisberger thing is just getting weird now.

In a mailbag Q&A at The Athletic last week, Glazer poked fun at the Steelers quarterback for his offseason workout regimen.

“First of all, let’s not put the words fitness and Ben Roethlisberger together, they are allergic to each other. There is no fitness in Ben Roethlisberger. His idea of a great off-season workout program is doing one yoga session, playing golf, and drinking some beer,” he wrote on May 5.

Then he profoundly backed off that criticism during a Fox Sports Radio hit, claiming that he and Roethlisberger have been chummy for a long time. Essentially, he characterized the exchange as nothing but online towel snapping that was framed the wrong way.

Here’s how he led off this week’s mailbag when someone followed up asking him why he took that run at Big Ben.

“Man, it’s funny. When I talk about your favorite player, too many of you guys just come out in droves with so much asinine hate. I’ve had a couple of people threaten to fight me, which would be fantastically hilarious. The continued insults at my family… I just don’t get.

If you have a gripe with something any of us say, I’m telling you, it would be a lot louder if you came with logic and why you disagreed rather than ‘hey you (jerk) your stupid mother is probably ashamed of a (jerk) son like you, hope you all get Covid and die!’

“If Big Ben wasn’t as upset as you guys are, why would you guys get this upset?”

Glazer is right. That’s too much. Not nice.

But, Jay, you’re a big boy. You are in a much greater position of influence than me. And you look like a much tougher guy than me.

But bow up a little bit! You should’ve seen my email box after some mild criticism of a few Steelers draft choices.

If as many people in Pittsburgh actually got coronavirus as was wished upon me after draft weekend, we’d still be in Governor Tom Wolf’s “red zone.”

Save the victim card.

Glazer went one step further, making it sound like it was the fault of fans and other media members for blowing his own comments out of proportion.

“My statement about Ben got pulled way out of whack as if I was talking about his current rehab … Ben and I bust each other’s chops a lot. When I did it again on here, poking fun at him, and it got pulled out, everyone went insane. I was thinking, ‘What is going on?’”

C’mon. Don’t try to blame-shift away your criticism of Roethlisberger and make the story more about the reaction to it.

Glazer continually draws a distinct differentiation between Roethlisberger’s rehab of his elbow — which he keeps insisting Big Ben is “committed” to fixing — and his usual offseason workouts.

Let’s be honest. Glazer made a joke. He took a lighthearted swipe. A future Hall of Famer got mad and had some beef about it. That’s it. And now Glazer is backpedaling by way of massaging his initial post.

In both his mailbag response and the Fox Sports Radio interview, Glazer alternates between framing his discussion with Roethlisberger as two old pals ribbing on the square, and two guys having a man-to-man talk.

I suppose those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. But they do connote very different tones.

So which was it? If two men hashed it out, so be it. If it was just a joke that went too far, fine.

But either way, I’m not sure foisting the blame onto public interpretation and others in the media is the way to go for Glazer on this one.

Because that’s not consistent with either narrative.

A.B. on the list

Pro Football Focus announced its All-Decade team for 2010-19.

Antonio Brown was the only Steeler on it. The other first-team wide receivers were Calvin Johnson and Julio Jones.

Pitt alum Larry Fitzgerald was on the squad as an offensive “flex” player. Another former Panther, Darrelle Revis, made the list at cornerback.

Plum’s Pat McAfee was the punter.

Jolted Jet

Le’Veon Bell’s first season with the New York Jets didn’t go well. In 2019, the former Steelers running back never exceeded more than 87 yards on the ground in any game. And he averaged a meager 3.2 yards per carry.

But based on New York media coverage I’ve seen, the papers haven’t been going after him for a lack of performance.

Rather, they’ve been blasting coach Adam Gase for misusing Bell last year.

That continued Tuesday when the New York Daily News ran this back page story, eviscerating Gase for signing 37-year-old free agent running back Frank Gore to “lessen the load” for Bell.

Here's our @nydnsports back page. @nyjets @mlb @mlbnetwork @nfl @nflnetwork @steelers @APSE_sportmedia pic.twitter.com/LJiIr4sqXK

— Back Page Guy NYDN (@BackPageGuyNYDN) May 12, 2020

Writer Manish Mehta says, “From a pure football perspective, adding Gore doesn’t make much sense. The Jets need more speed in their backfield. A home-run threat would have been ideal. Gore doesn’t offer that dimension.

Gore, the NFL’s third leading all-time rusher, will wind up in Canton one day. He should be respected, but let’s not pretend that the Jets don’t already have a respected veteran at the same position with a great work ethic and a lot more left in his tank.”

Heading out?

The Steelers would love to hold training camp at Saint Vincent College this summer.

As usual. But there is nothing “usual” about 2020.

So if the state of Pennsylvania, or at least Westmoreland County, isn’t able to move into the “green phase” by then, they may have to look elsewhere. Like maybe West Virginia? Or somewhere in Ohio?

If the Steelers do that, they won’t be alone. According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the teams in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and California may all be in the same boat.

The Seattle Seahawks may be as well in the state of Washington.

Just to name a few.