Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been limited in practice this week with what was originally thought to be a sprained right foot. It turns out the injury is a tad more serious than that. Sources told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Thursday that the foot is actually broken. Roethlisberger suffered the injury during the first quarter of Sunday’s win over the Bills.
Despite the injury, Big Ben said he “fully expects” to play against the Ravens on Sunday. I can already hear Jon Gruden talking about how tough he is during the Monday night game if the Steelers win. Yes, I know the Monday night game is Jets-Patriots. It doesn’t matter.
Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said the injury should not limit Roethlisberger in any way on the field, but I don’t see how that’s possible. The reason Roethlisberger is so effective is that he can get outside the pocket and make plays on the run despite his massive stature. Unless team doctors pump him full of drugs — or alcohol since that seems to be his thing — before the game, the injury has to limit his mobility in some way. Pittsburgh’s offense has been less-than-stellar to begin with, so I’d probably be pretty concerned if I were a Steelers fan.
