Cowher says Tomlin, Roethlisberger, Brown need to come together
Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher wants his successor, Mike Tomlin, to help patch up the issues between quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown.
Brown was benched in Week 17 and there have been subsequent reports of a potential offseason trade for the star wideout.
"I'm hopeful that at some point, in my opinion, that coach Mike Tomlin, Antonio Brown, and Ben Roethlisberger will get in a room, shut the door, and air their differences, and talk about where they are and see if there's any way they can get aligned moving forward," Cowher said, according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"Because there's a window of time here. These are not 24- and 25-year-olds. They've done too much for that organization to allow this degree of frustration, which I believe it is. I think there needs to be some separation, some time. Unfortunately, in this transparent world we're in with everything else we have in social media, things are said, things are done, things get misinterpreted that sometimes time needs to be the healer of this."
Cowher coached the Steelers from 1992 to 2006 and led the team to a victory in Super Bowl XL with Roethlisberger under center. He stepped down in January 2007 and currently works as a studio analyst with CBS.
While Brown has seemed to hint several times at a desire to play for the San Francisco 49ers next season, fellow Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster reiterated Wednesday his personal desire for Brown to be retained.
Cowher understands the three may not be able to reach a resolution, but he says they need to do what they can to take advantage of a roster he believes can win a championship.
"At some point, they need to get in that room to recognize where they are, recognize how they got there. That's the thing. How did we get here? Each of us talk about how we got here. How did we play a role in this? More importantly, how can we walk out of this room aligned together because we've done too much not to allow something.
"If it's not fixable, then understand what needs to happen and move on."
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