Several Broncos players have made it quite clear that they do not believe Ben Roethlisberger was dealing with a significant injury on Sunday, and that way of thinking seems to have irritated the Steelers.
Von Miller referred to the talk of Roethlisberger’s injured shoulder as a “bluff” and said his team saw right through it. Denver linebacker Brandon Marshall said Big Ben throwing deep on the first play of the game proved he was trying to “hit us with the okie doke.” Aqib Talib took it a step further.
Aqib Talib: Ben was healthy as hell. He didn’t fool anybody
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) January 18, 2016
Roethlisberger is one of the toughest players in the league. He received treatment throughout the week that helped, but there’s no way the talk of his right shoulder being hurt was a complete fabrication. According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Steelers took exception to the skepticism.
That comment quietly upset the Steelers because of what Roethlisberger had to do to get ready for the Broncos and the discomfort he felt before and after the game.
Roethlisberger took a pain-killing ejection before pregame warm-ups, enabling him to throw as he did against the Broncos. But he winced when he tried to put his right arm through his shirt sleeve in the locker room after the game and couldn’t even lift his arm today at the Steelers practice facility, according to several team sources.
Had Roethlisberger been “faking,” he would have at least done some throwing in practice. You can understand why the Steelers are tired of opponents accusing them of exaggerating injuries, especially with what ended up happening with Antonio Brown after he took this vicious hit from Vontaze Burfict. Brown missed Sunday’s game, and Pittsburgh could have used him. Bengals cornerback Pacman Jones ended up apologizing for saying Brown was faking concussion-like symptoms.
There’s always a certain level of gamesmanship that goes into reporting injuries, but that doesn’t mean Roethlisbeger was not playing through pain.
