Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer is known to have a good relationship with Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
I’m not sure how great his relationship will be with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger now, though.
In a mailbag Q&A with The Athletic, a fan asked Glazer about potential success for the 2020 Steelers if “Big Ben” is “back to even 85% plus fitness.”
Glazer’s response was less than kind.
“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.”
With that beard Roethlisberger is currently sporting, the golf and beer part I can see. Wrapping my brain around that visage on a yoga mat is a little difficult for me at this point.
To be fair, the rest of Glazer’s response was essentially a love letter to what Roethlisberger and Tomlin have accomplished together in Pittsburgh over the years.
But mainly Tomlin.
“Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I want fans of other cities to realize that. Never had a losing season since he’s been with Pittsburgh. Despite injuries and they are obviously not the most aggressive team when it comes to free agency, having Le’Veon Bell holding out, the Antonio Brown situation, it’s incredible. He’s changed coordinators, gone through offensive coaches, defensive coordinators, but the dude has never had a losing season. Don’t sleep on them ever.”
Roethlisberger isn’t exactly one to shrug off pot shots from media members.
I know. I’ve been a card-carrying member of the “Big Ben one-word-answer club” since the middle of 2015. I’m also pretty sure Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network doesn’t get Christmas cards either.
I wonder how things will be with Glazer moving forward after this. And I wonder if Tomlin will be put off by Glazer’s characterization of his franchise quarterback.
Unless, of course, Tomlin tacitly agrees and doesn’t mind that gentle prodding of his quarterback from Glazer in the first place.
Since we now know Roethlisberger is into yoga, maybe he can just find his center and take a breath in lotus pose and get over it.
