Ben Roethlisberger Suffers Concussion

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger left this afternoon’s game against the Cleveland Browns (a game the Steelers easily won 31-0) with what appeared to be a pretty serious concussion. He had to be immobilized, his face mask was removed and he was carted off the field. Afterward, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had good news:

“At this point, all tests are negative, which is positive. We are optimistic he is going to be capable of playing. The bye is going to be helpful in regards to that. That is all of the information that I have on his status at this point. Again, it is encouraging.”

In a game that didn’t mean anything as far as playoff positioning was concerned, coach Tomlin has to be second-guessing himself in playing Ben at all. For teams that have already locked up their playoff spot and neither a win nor a loss can change it, it becomes something of a preseason game atmosphere where starters put in a certain amount of time just to keep sharp. The risk of injury, though, is always the potential downside to that plan. So, attention now turns to potential lingering effects with Ben’s injury and whether he’ll really be ready to go in two weeks for the Divisional playoffs.

Source: Steelers.com, Photo: Newscom