Will Ben Be Ready For Sunday?

It’s the usual Tuesday: Ben Roethlisberger plays good cop and Mike Tomlin plays bad cop.

On his morning radio show, Big Ben stated that he was good to go for Sunday, but an hour later in his weekly press conference, Coach Tomlin denied that the quarterback had cleared the NFL’s concussion protocol.

The back-and-forth between the two is not unusual. During the course of this season, both men have gone on record with contradicting statements, going back as far as when Ben had a bone bruise and was out for 4 games, there was speculation he would return for the Kansas City Chiefs game, after backup Michael Vick was injured and the Steelers were left with one QB on the active roster.

In that situation, there were arguments that if Ben were the emergency quarterback, then why not start him? (If he’s ready, he’s ready, was the thought.)

Ben did not dress for that game. Instead, hybrid WR/QB Tyler Murphy was called up from the practice squad to play backup for Landry Jones.

However, the opposite situation was proposed when Ben Roethlisberger limped out of the Oakland Raiders game, replaced by Jones: the Steelers opted to dress Ben for the following week’s game against Cleveland. As it turns out, Ben was ready, being forced into action after Jones (originally the third string passer) left the game with an injury of his own.

The result? Roethlisberger threw for 379 yards and 3 touchdowns in route to a victory over the Browns.

With a week to heal, Ben was well-rested to face the Seattle Seahawks, but left the game in the 4th quarter after contact to his head/face, and a concern to check him for a concussion. While Ben insisted he did not have a concussion, the team’s doctors were taking precautions with “concussion-like” symptoms. This entered Big Ben into the league’s protocol, which had been under fire as early as a week prior when Rams QB Case Keenum was not yanked from their game, exhibiting a similar hit and symptoms.

The good news is, of the injured players, Ben was cleared to practice and did so in full on Wednesday. (He was the only player on the injury report who was a full partcipant.) Barring any setbacks, #7 should be ready for a Sunday night clash with the Indianapolis Colts: a team he torched for 522 yards and 6 touchdowns last season.


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