How the Denver Broncos Broke the Relationship Between Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger

Tuesday afternoon, former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown turned heads on social media when he claimed that he and Ben Roethlisberger were not actually friends during their time together in the Steel City. This statement was made in response to an interview by the quarterback in which he expressed regret for ruining their friendship. Interestingly enough, Roethlisberger was not actually the one to blame. There was a secret organization lurking in the shadows also known as Mile High Stadium.

Back in May, Denver Broncos defensive tackle Shelby Harris talked to NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano about the upcoming season. During this conversation, Harris was asked if his game-sealing interception was to blame for the hurt feelings and the dysfunction in the Steelers locker room.

More importantly, was he taking credit for the breakup?

“Low key, yeah, kinda,” Harris said while laughing. “Because you’ve got to think of it like this though, after that game, you know, they started taking shots at each other, and it started going downhill.”

Granted, Harris did continue by saying that it was an 11-man effort that forced Roethlisberger to hold the ball for a second too long before ultimately throwing the interception in the end zone, but it was up to him to make the catch and end the game. Still, Harris recognized that it was his play that kickstarted a high-profile breakup unheard of in the NFL.

The Denver Broncos defender wouldn’t necessarily take all of the credit for the split between Brown and Roethlisberger, but he certainly was going to laugh about the situation.

The Pittsburgh Steelers entered the 2018 season as a legitimate Super Bowl contender. With two all-star wide receivers in Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster, as well as a talented tight end in Vance McDonald, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had some of the best surrounding talent in years. Even with Le’Veon Bell no longer in the building, the rushing attack was still capable of producing points considering that backup James Conner was a true breakout star.

Unfortunately, the end came quickly for this Steelers team. Infighting between big personalities resulted in Brown requesting a trade from the team and later making damning comments about his former teammates. The fall from grace was quick and painful for this Steelers team and now Brown is suiting up for another team. Although that hasn’t prevented him from making more comments about his former teammates.