Ben Roethlisberger suffered a rib injury in Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders and was eventually able to return, but there has been a great deal of confusion about why it took so long for Mike Tomlin to put him back in. The coach and quarterback tried to answer some of those questions on Tuesday.
Apparently, one of the reasons Roethlisberger stood on the sideline for so long seemingly ready to go was that the Steelers were waiting on results from outdated X-ray machines in Oakland.
Ben Roethlisberger said on 93.7 the Fan an inconclusive X-Ray in Oakland factored into decision to sideline him. GM Kevin Colbert involved in discussions about whether playing Roethlisberger would worsen inj. Roethlisberger told coach Mike Tomlin he was available if needed.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) December 11, 2018
Mike Tomlin confirms what Ben Roethlisberger said: X-ray in Oakland was unable to be read after a dealay
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) December 11, 2018
Mike Tomlin: Most prudent thing to do was to make Ben available only in an emergency situation in Oakland because they weren't sure what the injury was because X-ray didn't work
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) December 11, 2018
Tomlin said he continued to communicate with Roethlisberger about the “effectiveness of pain medication” he was given, which likely means the Steelers were waiting for a pain shot to kick in. The coach stressed that the team was trying to make the best decision possible with the information available at the time.
Mike Tomlin point blank asked why, when he said Sun he could’ve gotten Ben in earlier, he didn’t. Said, “We didn’t have a lot of information,” talks abt dialogue, conversations, etc and then: “I’ve tried to be as transparent as I can be, I’m not going to get into the minutiae.”
— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) December 11, 2018
Roethlisberger appeared to suffer the injury in the first half but remained in the game until halftime. Backup quarterback Josh Dobbs came out to start the second half, and the Steelers went punt, turnover on downs, interception, and punt on his first four possessions. After the Raiders took a 17-14 lead, Roethlisberger finally returned to the game and led Pittsburgh on a touchdown drive to put them up 21-17. They eventually lost 24-21 after kicker Chris Boswell slipped and fell on what would have been a game-tying field goal attempt.
Tomlin gave a much different reason on Sunday for why Roethlisberger was held out so long, and that is why reporters were still asking about it on Tuesday. From the sound of it, the Steelers were simply unsure of the exact extent of Big Ben’s injury but decided to take his word for it and put him back in when they realized they were not going to be able to win with Dobbs.
