Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger held his weekly talk with the media on Wednesday and told them he’s now been cleared to practice after suffering a concussion late in Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Roethlisberger reportedly said that he took another concussion this Wednesday morning and was told he could practice.
On Tuesday, there was confusion as to whether or not Roethlisberger was still in the league-mandated concussion protocol as he said during his weekly morning interview on 93.7 The Fan that he was diagnosed with a traumatic ocular migraine and that he had just finished concussion protocol at the Steelers facility.
Later on Tuesday, however, head coach Mike Tomlin told a different story during his weekly press conference.
“Ben Roethlisberger also experienced what now is being described as a concussion,” said Tomlin on Tuesday. “He’ll be in the concussion protocol. We’ll do what we always do with those guys. We’ll be very diligent about their care. We’ll lean on the expert advice of our medical team, who always do a great job and will do what’s appropriate at the end of the week, or whenever that decision-making time is. Right now I can tell you that both guys (Roethlisberger and linebacker Ryan Shazier) are in the protocol, will remain in the protocol, even if they feel better they’re going to remain in the protocol. We’re going to do our due diligence under the guidelines that have been prescribed in recent years.”
During his Wednesday conference call with the Colts media, Tomlin reportedly said that Roethlisberger has cleared the concussion protocol and that he will practice today.
Regardless of how things transpired with Roethlisberger since he suffered a late hit by Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss, he appears to be set to practice on Wednesday and play Sunday night against the Indianapolis Colts at Heinz Field. The last time Roethlisberger faced the Colts was last season and he threw for a career-high 522 passing yards and 6 touchdowns in the Steelers 51-34 home win.
