At this time, the starting quarterbacks for the Week 10 contest between the AFC North Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns remains a mystery.
The Steelers have Ben Roethlisberger (sprained foot) listed as “questionable,” even though he is hopeful to play Sunday afternoon. Landry Jones would get the nod if Big Ben is ruled out prior to Sunday’s game.
On Cleveland’s side of the field, Josh McCown is also listed as “questionable” as he deals with a rib injury. Head coach Mike Pettine won’t reveal whether he or Johnny Manziel will start “to maintain competitive advantage.”
Pettine said that McCown improved throughout the week in practice, but Manziel primarily practiced with the first-team. Reportedly, Manziel is prepared to start, but the team indicated that McCown would remain the starter when he is healthy.
With the Browns scrounging up only two wins all season (one with McCown and one with Manziel), it may not really matter who starts on Sunday since neither quarterback sports a very attractive win record this year. Regarding the Steelers, obviously they sit in a better position to win if Roethlisberger is healthy enough to play. Although coming off of a foot sprain that was severe enough to have him carted off the field last week, Big Ben will not be at 100 percent, and rushing him back to play could slow the team down long term.
In all reality, we could see all four quarterbacks play this Sunday. If McCown and Roethlisberger both start, it would not be too surprising if either one or both aggravated their injury to the point Manziel or Landry get called to duty.
With the two teams determined to keep everybody in the dark at this time, and given the potential that all four quarterbacks could play, fantasy football owners are surely not thrilled with this news.