ESPN - Ben Roethlisberger's complicated quest to be a better leader

[AtlantaDan]

Long and IMO good read on ESPN.com. Lays out both pros and cons of Ben's evolving efforts to lead while interacting to a greater extent with his teammates.

Ben Roethlisberger's complicated quest to be a better leader

It was a late evening in mid-May, and just about every skill-position player was in attendance at Roethlisberger's Georgia lake house, from Pro Bowlers to the practice squad...

Under a near-full moon, Roethlisberger and teammates formed a circle and shared their life stories, starting with Conner....

Eventually, Smith-Schuster interjected."Seven, tell us your thing,"

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27581906/steelers-ben-roethlisberger-complicated-quest-better-leader

In terms of who can help Ben build bridges to the rest of the offense, Pouncey is a team leader - but I am unaware of Ben having any issues with the OL once Faneca and the rest of the old guard Ben broke in with left. Hopefully Ju-Ju can help Ben relate to the young RBs and WRs.

[DesertSteel]

I agree with Clark's take: he's not a natural leader, but he's trying.

[Mojouw]

You guys have some good takes on this. Hard to be what you’re not wired to be. Good on all included to try.

[Lamberts_Lunatic]

Thanks for posting that. It actually uplifted me. After the debacle last Sunday I didn't have a lot of enthusiasm about the upcoming season. At least now I feel a little bit hopeful.

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

Forget about being a leader and Ben needs to go into a game fired up expecting to win. He look like he couldn't wait to get the game over from the start. If he gets fired up with a winning attitude game day they will follow. Show it on the field Ben!

[Edman]

A Leader doesn’t call himself the Leader or tries to become a leader. He just leads by example through behaviors and actions to make everyone else around him better. Ben is who he is.

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

A Leader doesn’t call himself the Leader or tries to become a leader. He just leads by example through behaviors and actions to make everyone else around him better. Ben is who he is. Yep singing Kumbaya and roasting marshmallows around the camp fire with the new guys. Does not work unless you show it on the field as well.

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

By no means am I saying bench Ben for Rudolph. Rudolph has the leader mentality and think that is just born in some. You either have it or you don't. Ben needs to not worry about being a leader and just go play good football.

[Edman]

Ben was never one to lead by example. He just does his own thing and wings it relying on his physical gifts and talent. It shows on the field and in the way he plays. He is who he is, and that’s okay. Leadership isn’t measured by the thing on your jersey or what title is given to you. You just lead and set the example for everyone else. Do things you want your teammates to be doing.

The issue is that Ben thinks of himself as a leader, when what he really is, is a shot caller. Ben wears the Captain insignia and tells everyone what to do, but he is not a leader. There is nothing wrong with that, and I think some have trouble accepting that.

[steel striker]

Yeah you know Troy P. said it best Ben is not like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning Ect. he is different. That's fine and, I would not want him to change be who you are.

[Fire Goodell]

Problem is Ben wants to be Peyton Manning, ie. Full control of the offense and playcalling. The problem with that is Ben is far from being the football genius that Peyton was.

What he was, was a hyper-talented QB who got by on his gift. He never tried to keep himself in great shape, wasn't a film junkie like a lot of elite QB's. But he'd turn busted plays into 7 points a lot. Not to take away anything from him, in his prime he was probably the most fun QB to watch (kind of like mahomes is right now). I'd imagine fans of other teams who played us must have thought it was beyond frustrating to see this guy pull his houdini act and bomb them for a long TD