Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger does not regret "challenging" his star wide receiver Antonio Brown.
The 36-year-old appeared to criticise Brown's route running during an interview late last month.
Roethlisberger discussed that comment during an appearance on 93.7 The Fan after Pittsburgh's 33-30 week 13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
"There's a right and a wrong way to kind of challenge guys sometimes," Roethlisberger said, via The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "And I felt like I did that, and I feel like there's no negativity [that] came from it."
Brown caught 10 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown in the Steelers' loss to Los Angeles.
Roethlisberger said there was not an issue between him and the six-time Pro Bowl player.
"People sometimes make a big deal about things that are said, rightfully so, whatever they want to do," Roethlisberger said. "But we always say that it doesn't affect us. You know, they talk about leadership or whatever – I knew that there was no issue in our locker room. AB knew there was no issue in our locker room between he and I."
Roethlisberger said he and Brown have a great relationship.
"He is one of my closer friends on the team," Roethlisberger said. "We've played together for a long time, and it just shows how special of a player he is, the things he's able to do. If you lined up him against the greats, he's probably going to be undersized, under-speed, under all these things, but when he goes out and plays the game, he plays it as big as anybody that's ever played it."
The Steelers dropped to 7-4-1 this season after falling to the Chargers. They will face the Raiders in Oakland on Sunday.