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.
Ben’s injuries and toughness
Ben has taken his fair share of abuse, and like Elway, he has been a tough competitor. In his first 15 seasons, Ben had only missed 22 games, not counting his first two he missed while backing up Tommy Maddox. Conversely, Elway only missed 22 games his entire career, which spanned 16 seasons. In Bens’s 16th season, he suffered his elbow injury and missed 14 games.
Still, that abuse comes at a price. While still a staunch competitor and having a desire to win and get to the Superbowl, the Steelers can’t rely exclusively on Roethlisberger to make as many miraculous plays as he did in his 20’s. Look at how he’s playing now then look at Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson from Monday Nights’ matchup. A noticeable difference in playmaking and mobility. Age does that to a quarterback. Well, except for Tom Brady, who seems to be the one exception.
Later on Monday morning, on NFL Radio’s segment Moving the Chains with Pat Kerwin and Jim Miller came more concerns about Ben Roethlisberger. Jim Miller noted that he watched some of the Steelers game footage with Buffalo after he got home on Sunday. He then noted that he had some grave concerns something is very wrong with Roethlisberger.
In his analysis, Miller concluded that Ben’s mechanics were all messed up. Furthermore, he is not even doing his dropbacks correctly. He quickly surmised that the injury to Ben’s knee earlier in the season against the Cowboys might be more severe than the Steelers, or at least Ben himself has let on. Plus, he added at one point, he was looking at his elbow. Pat Kerwin never disagreed with his analysis. Ok, we know the elbow is problematic, given how bad he injured it in 2019. The possibility exists of another injury to the elbow. That said, the knee sounds more problematic at the moment. If in fact, it’s affecting Ben’s playing ability.
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.
Have the Steelers manipulated the injury report?
In fairness, this is conjecture, and there is no specific proof this has occurred surrounding Rothlisberger. Manipulating the injury report is a serious accusation. However, that said, in 2019, the NFL did fine the Steelers $75,000 and fined Coach Mike Tomlin $25,000 for violating the league’s injury report policy by not accurately listing Roethlisberger on the practice report prior to the Seattle Seahawks game. This error is not the only time such things have happened. In 2018 the NFL fined the Raiders $20,000 for an injury report omission to Kelechi Osemele.
A similar occurrence happened to the Ravens in 2012 when they failed to report a shoulder injury incurred by Ed Reed. The NFL fined the Ravens $20,000. These occurrences have happened for whatever reason. Probably they are oversights that, unfortunately, NFL discovered. Of course, the NFL fined the teams as needed. So yes, teams have made mistakes on occasions in regards to the injury report.
Conversely, some injuries have been downgraded or outright ignored. It can be a tricky situation, according to a 2017 article online about injuries in the NFL. It notes that Bears Center Olin Kreutz once tore his Lisfranc tendon. Since the Bears had no replacement center, they downplayed it; he returned and finished the game despite not being able to block anyone. Kreutz also admitted when spraining an ankle to taping both ankles so opponents wouldn’t know which one was injured. These things occur when players get injured.
Given when a player gets injured, only four people know the extent of the injury. The list includes the head coach, position coach, the GM, and the team doctor. Going further, one player agent, David Canter, admitted he knows of players who suffered season-ending injuries, yet one of those injuries never showed up on the injury report. So the point is sometimes injuries get hidden if only because a player wants to get his roster bonus or if it’s a veteran star, they are hoping he may bounce back before game time. That’s not to say it has happened in this situation. However, there is another angle regarding the injury report to consider. This may be the issue with Big Ben.
Conclusion
Since the Dallas game, any injury to Ben’s knee has not been listed. Officially there is no injury. Here is where it gets a bit murky. Specifically, relating to the NFL rules on reporting injuries. First, we know the Steelers have not listed any injury to Ben’s knee on the injury report. Which then, officially, he is not injured.
Secondly, as has happened all season, Ben generally sits out Wednesday’s practice. This notation always gets designated on the injury report as missed practice, not injury-related. One can look on the Steelers home page at the injury reports every week. Here is the shadowy part of injury designations. Suppose Ben has injured his knee. However, for whatever reason, the injury is not treatable, and or Ben does not receive treatment for it. If that is the case, and there is no active treatment, or nothing can improve the condition, then technically, the Steelers do not have to disclose the injury.
So anyone who has followed the injury report knows any knee injury has not materialized. Yet others have reported it or made observations his knee is bothering him. It makes one wonder if perhaps Ben is a bit more injured than initially thought even though it has not been reported.
There is no way to know if this is conjecture or if something has happened. We know the Steelers offense has been out of rhythm in the last five games. Plus, Ben has not made as many big plays recently. Since the Dallas game, even the Steelers’ play-calling has become one dimensional. Leaving fans to wonder what the coaches are thinking.
If the play calling is catering to an injury Ben has, it makes sense of the play calling. However, if the Steelers had a rushing game the last few weeks, perhaps Ben’s play might have been overlooked. What is certain is that when they play Cleveland, if the Browns score close to the 42 points they posted against the Ravens on Monday night, the Steelers could find themselves in another deep offensive hole.
Perhaps the Steelers will bounce back in the next three weeks, that’s possible, or at least in the playoffs. However, if Ben continues to struggle, it could be because he is trying to play through an injury, which could impact the Steelers more if he sits out. Possibly that is the case, perhaps not. We do not know for sure. We do know there is cause for concern, though.