Are the Steelers Concerned about Roethlisberger’s Knee?

Is Ben’s knee injured?

If Ben’s knee injury is more problematic, it explains the quick passes, especially since the Cowboys game. Granted, that was something the Steelers intended to do as the season started. Nevertheless, lacking a running game, adjoined by the fact  Roethlisberger doesn’t do much to extend the life of a play, there is the possibility he’s just not capable.

Others have noticed and reported similar stories. According to a CBS Sports article, the quick tempo empty set short and intermediate passing game and the lack of a running game has made the Steelers predictable. Compound that with Diontae Johnson’s dropped passes and Ebron for that matter. Something is going on. Sure the dropped passes by Johnson could be all his fault. Tomlin did bench him for it for a stretch of the Buffalo game. However, the dropped passes could be a result of other factors. Ben could not be planting correctly or adjusting his mechanics due to pain in his knee. It’s hard to say.

All of this speculation leads to additional questions. Go back to Ben’s postgame interview from the Washington loss. Late in the interview, a reporter asked Ben about practices before the Washington game. Specifically, the reporter asked Ben about not practicing the two days leading up to the game and if he was dealing with something. Ben did an interesting job of deflecting the question. Stating regardless of how much he practices or does not practice, he needs to play better.

Yes, what he said is true. But he deflected the more significant element of the question, was something bothering him. That answer leads to another question. Have the Steelers been manipulating the injury report? Asking that is a stretch if the whole basis is the observation of Roethlisberger’s quality of play by Jim Miller.

It’s not, though. A blurb from NBC Sports on Sunday afternoon seems to have stirred the water surrounding Ben and the injury report. According to the article, it said CBS reporter Jason La Canfora reported, “There’s a serious concern in the Steelers organization about Roethlisberger’s knee. It’s been bothering him for weeks, sources say it’s not getting any better and is an issue in practices and in games.”

That report seems to validate Jim Miller’s observations if true. If, according to the NBC Sports report, there is any validity to the severity of Ben’s knee injury, and they omitted it from the injury report.  The NFL takes this very seriously.