As expected, the Pittsburgh Steelers removed quarterback Ben Roethlisberger from the team’s Reserve/COVID-19 list on Saturday. However, not long after doing so, the team added Roethlisberger to the weekly injury report with a knee designation.
Roethlisberger’s Saturday addition to the injury report is merely a formality, however, as he wasn’t given a game-status designation ahead of Sunday’s home contest against the Cincinnati Bengals. In short, Roethlisberger is good to go for Sunday against the Bengals. Mike Tomlin was asked about Roethlisberger’s reported knee issues after Friday’s practice.
“Knees are fine,” Tomlin said. “He’s gotten all the proper rehabilitation that he needs through the course of the week. To be honest with you, his knees weren’t an issue at all anyway. He was able to back into the game and finish the game like I mentioned to you guys at the top of the week.”
Roethlisberger left the Steelers road game against the Dallas Cowboys right before halftime with what appeared to be a left knee injury. Him exiting the field early to get his knee checked out resulted in backup quarterback Mason Rudolph needing to handle the final offensive possession of the first half. Roethlisberger did return for the second half. After the game, it was reported that he had injured both of his knees against the Cowboys on the same play, but not seriously.
Roethlisberger couldn’t practice at all this past week as a result of him being placed on the team’s Reserve/COVID-19 list on Tuesday after being deemed a high-risk close contact of tight end Vance McDonald, who returned a positive test for the virus Monday. Roethlisberger was removed from the COVID-19 list Saturday morning and then took part of an extended team walk-through.
“I’m doing good,” Roethlisberger said on Saturday. “I feel great. If my body enjoyed the week off, my mind teaching pre-kindergarten did not enjoy the week off. It’s fun to be home, but I definitely missed the guys.”
Roethlisberger indicated on Saturday that he was tested every day for the virus and said his wife and kids were tested every other day. He said he wore a mask around the house and even slept in a different room all week.
“You’re always a little nervous about it,” he said.
