There was little doubt Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was one of the toughest quarterbacks in the NFL coming in to the playoffs, but he proved it once again in gutting out an apparent shoulder injury late in the team’s 18-16 Wild Card Playoff win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Reports of exactly what is wrong with him have been vague at best, but news on Monday indicated Roethlisberger would be a go for the Steelers’ divisional round game at the Denver Broncos.
However, those thoughts may be a bit premature, as CBS Pittsburgh is reporting the star quarterback’s status is far from certain like previously reported.
According to the latest report, Roethlisberger suffered a sprained AC joint and torn ligaments in his shoulder. The quarterback admitted he is still working through his injury and even he doesn’t yet know if he is going to be good to go for the game this week.
He spoke to 93.7 The Fan for his weekly show on the radio station, telling the details of his injury on air.
Roethlisberger was sacked by Vontaze Burfict in the second half and it was clear following the hit that something was different with his ability to throw the football, which he readily admitted to to 93.7 The Fan.
“It didn’t hurt when I reached back to throw,” Roethlisberger said of his heroic late-game drive. “But it was pushing forward to throw and then the end of the throw. So I definitely felt like I was shortening up my motion up a little bit, which is why we threw some screens, and couldn’t really get the ball down the field… I think it just more affected how I could throw it.”
According to Roethlisberger, he’s currently rehabbing the injury and has yet to establish where he is at with his ability to throw the football.
“I’ll go in tomorrow with the intent to see what I can do,” Roethlisberger said. “I honestly don’t know. I haven’t tried to throw a football since the game, and maybe that’s not even the right thing to do right away. I’ll see the doctors and trainers tomorrow, we’ll evaluate kind of how I feel. If anything, maybe I can practice and hand off and still get some mental reps that way. So we’ll really just kind of see how it goes tomorrow.”
If Roethlisberger is unable to go, it would be up to Landry Jones to guide his team against Peyton Manning and one of the toughest defenses in the NFL.
Jones has started twice this season, completing 32 of 55 passes for 513 yards and three touchdowns and four interceptions.
