Former Pittsburgh Steelers legendary quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger has never been one of the more well-liked guys in the league. That even includes former teammates, as Roethlisberger spent all 18 seasons of his NFL career in Pittsburgh. Add former offensive lineman Jonathan Scott to that list. Scott played for five different teams in his seven-year NFL career, which included two seasons with the Steelers.
Scott was teammates with Roethlisberger for both the 2010 and 2011 campaigns. He started just 14 games for the Steelers, as he was known more as a journeyman depth piece. That didn’t hold him back from bashing his former quarterback in a recent interview though. In an appearance on the Select Few Podcast, Scott advocated for Steelers longtime backup Charlie Batch.
"Ben got hurt, and Chuck came in. We went 4-0 without Roethlisberger. They had to put Ben in because he was Ben. I am thoroughly convinced, if we would've stayed with Chuck, we would've won the Super Bowl. I'll say that. I can say that with confidence."
He wasn’t done there either. Scott bashed Roethlisberger’s leadership, while praising Vince Young’s. Scott was teammates with Young at the University of Texas. If you remember, the 2006 third overall pick became a massive bust in the NFL. Scott is specifically referring to the 2010 campaign when Roethlisberger missed four games due to a suspension for violating the league's personal conduct policy.
The backups filled in nicely, as Batch started two games as did Dennis Dixon. Batch was a fan favorite in his eight seasons in Pittsburgh, as he could be relied upon when his name was called. Still, to say the team would’ve won the Super Bowl with Batch is… something. We're talking about a future Hall of Famer in Roethlisberger, who is regarded as one of the best quarterbacks ever.
"One that I played with [that was my favorite NFL quarterback] was Charlie Batch. He was a leader. I always joke with Chuck, he could be mayor of Pittsburgh. He would win landslide. He's that kind of person. He gives a damn about his community. As a player, he knew what to do and knew it well," Scott said on the podcast.
It's why he became a fan favorite in Pittsburgh. Beyond his ability to fill in admirably when Roethlisberger missed time, Batch was a genuine human-being by all accounts. While most of his comments were unnecessary toward Roethlisberger, Scott is right in the fact that Batch may have a shot at mayor of Pittsburgh (if he ran). Revert back to Roethlisberger though, the hate seems to be a bit out of nowhere from the former offensive lineman.
In that Super Bowl loss to the Green Bay Packers that year, Roethlisberger did have some costly mistakes, notably the two interceptions. Still, he threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns. With all due respect to Batch, it's one thing to fill in nicely for a few games. It's another to step in and lead a team to a Super Bowl victory. There's zero doubt as to who was the team's best option at quarterback for a game of that magnitude.
Is the former Steelers backup one of your all-time favorites?
Across 278 career pass attempts with the Steelers, Batch completed just 59.4% of his passes. He also had the same amount of interceptions as touchdowns (12), but did lead the team to a 6-3 record in his nine starts. As for Scott, he was eventually released by the Steelers in 2012, as the team kept Max Starks around. It was meant to try and keep wideout Mike Wallace around at the time, but that didn't quite work out.
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