Are the Steelers Concerned about Roethlisberger’s Knee?

The Steelers had their second consecutive loss. There is no shortage of things for fans to feel concerned about with the playoffs only four weeks away.

The Steelers rushing game in five of their last eight games has posted less than 50 rushing yards a game. That’s unheard of for the Steelers. The Steelers defense, which dominated earlier in the season, is no longer doing so thanks to numerous injuries. There is also Diontae Johnson and his dropped passes in the last several weeks. Mike Tomlin even benched him for part of the Steelers Bills game. There are questionable coaching decisions, especially in their two losses in which had other decisions been made, perhaps they are still undefeated. The list goes on.

If all of that were not enough, there is another issue of grave concern, a concern which may not have drawn much attention to itself but is a concern nonetheless. Actually, the issue is two-fold. Is Ben Roethlisberger more injured than fans realize? Secondly, have the Steelers been manipulating the injury report concerning his elbow and Roethlisberger’s knee injury? Is it perhaps more severe than they have let on?

Talk show analysts on NFL radio on Sirius XM highlighted some concerns that perhaps injuries to Ben Roethlisberger may be more severe than anyone has let on. Earlier in the day, one analyst brought up an interesting perspective. Early in Ben’s career, he took a lot of hits and sacks. However, despite that, he always managed to shrug off a lot of hits and pressure and the knack of making things happen and extending plays.  Now that Ben is taking fewer sacks and hits and releasing the ball quicker, he has lost the ability to extend plays as he did early in his career.

Ok, that’s a valid point though not overly concerning. Ben is in his 17th season. No quarterback has the same mobility he had as a rookie. The abuse a quarterback takes over his career adds up after a while.

Case in point John Elway was once a very mobile quarterback. However, he played his entire career without an ACL due to an injury in high school. Though he missed little playing time to his knee injuries eventually took their toll as arthritis had set in. By the end of his career, his knees had started showing their age. Plus, his ribs had taken a fair amount of abuse. He spent also spent a  career playing with broken bones and pulled muscles.