Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has a torn meniscus in his left knee and will have surgery Monday morning, according to Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. There is currently no timetable for his return.
This is devastating news for the Steelers, who dropped to 4-2 on the season Sunday with their road loss to the Miami Dolphins.
Roethlisberger injured his left knee while attempting to avoid a sack in the second quarter. At the time, the Steelers doctors thought maybe Roethlisberger had a hyper-extended knee and he returned to play the entire second half. After the game was over the quarterback told the media that he would undergo an MRI Sunday night.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, doctors expect it to be a clean up of Roethlisberger’s meniscus, not a full repair. In other words, he will hopefully have a quicker recovery as a result.
With Roethlisberger now out for an extended amount of time the Steelers will turn to backup quarterback Landry Jones. He’ll start Sunday at home against the New England Patriots and will be backed up by Zach Mettenberger.
Last year, Roethlisberger missed 4 games with a left knee injury and the Steelers went 2-2 in those games. Jones started just one of those games and lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. During his playing time that he received while Roethlisberger was inured, Jones was 32 of 55 passing for 513 yards with 3 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.
