No one is safe from Pittsburgh Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger — not the struggling LT Broderick Jones or the 2025 defensive scheme, the latter of which puzzled the future Hall of Fame quarterback less than a week away from the Week 4 Ireland matchup vs. the Minnesota Vikings.
On a recent episode of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, Big Ben criticized Pittsburgh’s defense as “vanilla” before turning his attention to a quote from HC Mike Tomlin.
“To me, without studying our defense, it seems like we’re a pretty vanilla defense as it is,” Roethlisberger said. “It doesn’t feel like, to me, we’re getting a lot of unique pressures, unique defenses. And I think even Coach Tomlin said that today in his press conference. He said something along the lines of — and I’ll probably mess it up — that ‘situations or circumstances are preventing them from doing things.’ And I don’t know what that means, exactly.”
Big Ben added that he isn’t sure what specifically is preventing Pittsburgh from trying new things, but he shared hopes for changes in scheme, such as blitzing CB Jalen Ramsey and utilizing linebackers in unique ways.
Steelers fans will agree that this high-powered defense — at least on paper — has been one of the biggest disappointments to start the 2025 season. While Big Ben clearly shares this sentiment, there’s a growing concern surrounding DC Teryl Austin wasting the potential of what should have been a historic defensive start.
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This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Steelers legend Big Ben takes aim at vanilla defense ahead of Week 4
