Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t being cruel or unnecessarily harsh. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback had just seen enough — or not enough, to be accurate — out of wide receiver Martavis Bryant that he felt it was time to speak up.
Two weeks and two largely listless performances on the eve of the playoffs isn’t what Roethlisberger wanted to see out of the remarkably talented if still occasionally inconsistent Bryant. So Roethlisberger issued what he called a “challenge” during his radio show on Tuesday, saying it was time for Bryant to “toughen up.”
There was no edge in Roethlisberger’s voice as he repeated it in so many words on Wednesday as the Steelers (10-6) prepare for a trip to Cincinnati on Saturday night in the wild-card round.