Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was injured during Saturday night’s wild card game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He did return late in the fourth quarter to lead the game-winning drive, and some team officials seem to think he’ll be back in action for the divisional round matchup against the Denver Broncos.
According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, these officials “seem hopeful” and are “optimistic” about Big Ben’s availability for next weekend’s clash, but at this point nobody knows for sure until more testing is done.
Roethlisberger exited Saturday’s game with a painful shoulder injury. He was drilled by Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict early in the fourth quarter. Burfict executed a perfectly legal but devastatingly lethal pile-driver on the quarterback, driving Roethlisberger’s right (throwing) shoulder into the turf.
Adding insult to injury, Roethlisberger was pelted with trash, including water bottles, as he exited the field on a stretcher (watch here). Showing just how much pain he was in, he barely responded physically to those assaults.
While Roethlisberger did come back into the game, it was quite clear he couldn’t push the ball down the field like he, and we, are used to seeing.
Ben Roethlisberger – Average Throw Distance Beyond Line of Scrimmage
Final Drive: 0.7 yards
Other Drives: 6.8 yards— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 10, 2016
Clearly, he wasn’t right, and this could be a big problem for the Steelers in the next round.
However, being who he is, nobody should expect Big Ben to sit out next weekend’s game against the Broncos. Unless team doctors rule him out, he’s going to give it everything he’s got, proving once again he’s one of the toughest players to ever step foot on the gridiron.