Dec 28, 2017 By Jim Wexell for The 8 min read

PITTSBURGH — The Steelers aren’t happy about A.) answering questions about James Harrison signing with the New England Patriots, and B.) James Harrison signing with the New England Patriots.

Vince Williams tweeted his disgust about it on Tuesday but then deleted it.

Maurkice Pouncey said that Harrison ruined his legacy in Pittsburgh by signing there.

Bud Dupree became enraged while talking about it with a group of reporters before ending his interview.

Mike Mitchell wouldn’t talk directly about “players that are not in Pittsburgh.” But Mitchell knows what it’s like to switch teams.

“But I didn’t switch to a team that was within conference,” he said tersely. “And I went for life-changing money, and I STILL chose a team that wasn’t within the conference. That’s what teammates do.”

Marcus Gilbert was more direct. He lockers next to rookie T.J. Watt, who didn’t want to talk about the departure of his veteran backup. But Gilbert did.

“The thing I hate,” Gilbert started, “if he’s as real as he says he is, why doesn’t he come out and tell his side of the story? His real side of the story? He didn’t want to be here at all.”

Was Harrison disruptive?

“A distraction? Yeah,” Gilbert said. “I mean, if you don’t want to be here, if you don’t want to help the guys who are in front of you, like a rookie who’s pretty much learning on his own, and Bud, who’s a young guy, too, then there’s no place for that here. We’re all about winning. If you can’t respect that, well, his wishes were granted. He won’t tell you guys that, but those were his wishes.”

Gilbert said he was aware Harrison wanted to leave “from the very beginning. It was one of these things where I feel like he needs to come out and say something. He knew he didn’t want to be here. You can’t tell your agent to go speak for him and say he wanted to be here, because that wasn’t the case. A lot of guys were giving up blood, sweat and tears every weekend and this guy was selfish enough to not give a damn about any of these guys. That was every single week from the beginning of the season.”

“He wanted out,” said Pouncey. “It wasn’t like the team said ‘We’re going to let go of James Harrison.’ James Harrison wanted out.

“It’s funny to read the stories. This is something that you wanted to do, it’s not like they got together and said we’re going to cut James. No, that’s not what happened. He needs to come out and admit that.”

THE INFORMATION EXCHANGE

In attempting to downplay the effect of any information Harrison might relay to the Patriots, Ben Roethlisberger pointed back to the first game of the season.

“The first time we played Cleveland I think Sammie Coates had just got picked up by them,” said Roethlisberger. “That was obviously a big concern of ours, knowing our offense.”

Doesn’t Harrison know the plays better than Coates did?

“Offensively? Maybe,” Roethlisberger joked. But Roethlisberger did reveal one concern.

“My wife and I were talking last night,” he said Wednesday morning, “and she asked if he knew much of our no-huddle stuff. I don’t think he knows a lot of it. I’m sure he’s heard some of the same things for a lot of years now, so maybe some of it, but like I said, that’s a long way off.”

Roethlisberger said that it’s an individual preference about how much information is exchanged.

“That’s on James,” he said. “If they want to ask him every single piece of information he has, then that’s what this league does. I’m not worried about it. We don’t play them this week and we don’t play them next week, so we’ll see.”

AB MVP

Antonio Brown was named Steelers MVP for the fourth time in his seven seasons with the team. The five-time Pro Bowler leads the NFL in receiving yards (1,533) and is tied for second with 101 receptions, even though he missed the last 1.5 games with a calf injury. He’s expected back for the playoffs.

Roethlisberger, who’s been named team MVP only one time (2009) in his 14 seasons, was asked about his vote.

“Maurkice Pouncey,” he said. “I was a guy that voted a lot of years for Heath Miller, and to me MVP is the Most Valuable Player on this team, a guy that you just cannot do without, and to me it’s him. I could probably pick any of the linemen but he’s kind of the anchor of that group and the guy that means a lot to me, not just as a friend but for this team. Definitely deserves it in my book. I put a big 53 on my thing, too, and circled it, too.”

SACKING ROETHLISBERGER

Roethlisberger added a new layer to the oft-told story of him being sacked four times by Harrison during a 2001 college game.

Harrison had “three fulls and two halves” of a five-sack Kent State performance against Roethlisberger with the final two sacks ending Miami’s last threat in a 24-20 Kent State win. Roethlisberger’s rushing total in the game was 14 carries for negative 54 yards.

“That was actually a makeup game from Sept. 11,” Roethlisberger said. “We had played in Hawaii the week before so it was supposed to be the last game of the year and a lot of my senior linemen aren’t going to go on. They chose to stay out there, and James had a field day.”

Roethlisberger was asked why he didn’t stay in Hawaii, but he misheard the question.

“They stayed in Hawaii, yes,” he said. “It happens in the MAC, I think, and not coming back to playing at — where did James go to school?”

When told Kent, Roethlisberger said that he knew and was joking.

STEVAN RIDLEY

What can you tell me about the exchange of info when players change teams?

It depends on where you’re at, it really does. It’s football. Everybody’s trying to get their advantage any way they can.

Would he bring Harrison in and grill him? The fans are happy you are here to provide Patriots information. Is there something there?

Man, I’m coming to play ball. That’s it. I’m coming to play ball. It’s a rivalry. It’s a competition. Like I said, we’re not in this thing to lose, we’re in this thing to win. Gaining every advantage.

Is Tomlin in it to win?

I think the play speaks for itself with this squad right here.

How much can it help?

You still have to go out there and execute on Sundays. You can have all the information that you want but at the end of the day it’s about execution. Like I said, you study, you prepare, you have your game plan and you have to have information to be prepared. Once you glean that information, once you prepare with it, it’s up to Sundays to go out there and put it on the field. That’s really the main thing. You can make it as hard or as easy as you want to. Different coaches, different philosophies.

One turnover can change any grand plan.

You’re talking football. You’re talking football. There you go.

Were you particularly sore after this past game? After not playing in a while?

I was. I was a little bit — I’ll say knocking the rust off. That’s what it was. Getting off the couch and getting on the field, it’s a big jump. But that’s part of being a pro, also, is taking care of your body and knowing yourself, so I’m going to spend this week, four or five days, to get back, and that’s what you do to feel the best that you can. You never feel as good as you do after the first day. It doesn’t matter if it’s practice, games, whatever, you’ve just got to come in there and prepare youself to go out and play and produce.

You looked good in practice. How much did fresh legs have to do with that?

It’s really finding your rhythm. I believe in that. Yeah I’m fresh. I’m a lot fresher than 90 percent of these guys who’ve played 15 weeks in a row. But fresh isn’t always the best. It’s good, because your body hasn’t had the beating, but when guys have been in here and they have their rhythm and they have their timing, they’ve been running, that’s when you realize you’ve got some catching up to do. Being fresh isn’t the answer. I’ve got work to do, and that’s how I’m approaching it.

You should be ready for the playoffs right?

That’s the goal.