Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had a welcomed week off last week as the team was on their bye. While the rest undoubtedly provided time for the injuries to his left knee and foot that he sustained this season to heal more, head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that his starting quarterback is far from being considered completely healthy right now.
“Completely,” that’s a slippery slope,” said Tomlin when asked about Roethlisberger’s health status following the team’s bye week. “I don’t know. I would imagine “completely” is a term that’s used in March when you’re talking about professional football.”
Tomlin did agree, however, that Roethlisberger is “great” when it comes to him being late-November healthy.
Even though he should have had an extra week of rest prior to the bye week, Roethlisberger had to come off the bench in the Week 10 game against the Cleveland Browns when starter Landry Jones suffered an ankle injury midway through the first quarter. He went on to win the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award after throwing for 379 yards and 3 touchdowns against the Browns.
Roethlisberger’s days of being completely healthy are far behind him now. His body has been through a lot since he came into the league in 2004, but no matter what is ailment is, he always seems to answer the bell and put together games like he did against the Browns in Week 10. Maybe it’s due to all of that milk that Roethlisberger drinks.
Late-November healthy Roethlisberger is now preparing to face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday and it’s the first time he’ll play a professional game in Seattle.
