Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered a right elbow injury of some description in the first half of the team’s Sunday home loss to the Seattle Seahawks and while we wait to learn the severity of it, it appears as though he’s had some recent issues with.
According to Dianna Russini of ESPN, one player told her after the game that the team actually was aware that Roethlisberger was dealing with some elbow inflammation this week in practice.
Roethlisberger sat out the Steelers Wednesday practice but was listed on the injury report as that being a coaches decision, and not because of a sore elbow. He did, however, practice on both Thursday and Friday.
When Roethlisberger was sacked early in the first quarter of Sunday’s game, he seemingly landed on his left elbow. His right elbow issue didn’t seem to surface until later in the second quarter and specifically after a throw to wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. After that throw, Roethlisberger grabbed his right elbow and left the field. After going to the sideline to talk to the Steelers team doctors, Roethlisberger went to the locker room but did return just prior to halftime.
Had the Steelers thought Roethlisberger’s elbow was a big cause for corner on Sunday, they likely would have promoted quarterback Devlin Hodges from the practice squad on Saturday and dressed him against the Seahawks just in case.
For whatever it’s worth, Steelers backup quarterback Mason Rudolph said after the game that he received quite a few reps in practice this past week.
“I had a lot of reps this week and didn’t feel like I was unprepared by any means,” Rudolph said after Sunday’s loss.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin wad asked after the game if he has any idea what the severity of Roethlisberger’s elbow injury is.
“I do not, no,” Tomlin said.
Roethlisberger is reportedly scheduled to have an MRI on his elbow soon and we should know more about the severity of his injury by Tuesday afternoon at the latest.
