Ben Roethlisberger Injury Update: Surgery Required For Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback
Ben Roethlisberger injury news isn’t good for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Roethlisberger will require surgery after getting injured against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday (Oct. 16). A report from NBC Sports confirms that Roethlisberger will have surgery on Monday (Oct. 17) to repair a torn meniscus. The short-term prognosis is that he is going to miss the Week 7 game against the New England Patriots. More news about how long this injury will cost him will come out within 24 hours.
Roethlisberger was hurt in the first half of Sunday’s game, requiring an exit to the locker room. He returned to the game shortly after that, though, telling reporters that he only had a bruised knee. He also noted that an MRI would be performed on his leg to further clarify if there were additional problems. It appears that the test did find more damage, which will require that the quarterback miss some time.
It’s possible that this new Ben Roethlisberger injury isn’t something that the Pittsburgh Steelers will have to deal with for very long. That answer won’t come until after the procedure takes place on Monday, but the Steelers do have a perfectly placed bye week following the game against the Patriots. After the week off, the Steelers return for a game against the Baltimore Ravens on November 6. If Big Ben has his way, he will be back on the field in time for that Week 9 game.
Landry Jones and Zach Mettenberger are the other quarterbacks on the active roster for the Steelers, with Jones seeing a few plays against the Dolphins on Sunday. He threw only one pass, meaning he could use some additional practice during the week to get on the same page as the receiving corps. Having Landry Jones go up against Tom Brady just doesn’t have the same luster as having Ben Roethlisberger on the field, but the Steelers will have to persevere.
Though it is early in the 2016 NFL season, Ben Roethlisberger was putting up MVP numbers for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Through his first five games of the season, Roethlisberger had completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 1,496 yards and 15 touchdowns. Three times he had thrown for more than 300 yards in a game, and he was on pace to break his personal record for touchdown passes in a season. That number is 32, from the 2007 and 2014 NFL seasons.
During the 2015 NFL season, Landry Jones made two starts for the Pittsburgh Steelers, going 1-1 during his opportunity. Jones completed 32 of 55 passes (58.2 percent) for 513 yards through the air. Jones also had three touchdowns, four interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 77.3. While his numbers haven’t been that impressive, it is clear that he knows the offense for the Steelers after being with the franchise since 2013.
This Ben Roethlisberger injury is going to be particularly difficult for fantasy football owners, as he has put together some great statistics through the first six weeks of the NFL season. His performance on Sunday may have cost a few owners their matchups this week, but he may have also been the key to victory through the first five games. Anytime a quarterback can be counted on for 300 yards and three touchdowns every week, he becomes a hot commodity around fantasy football circles.
In the past, Roethlisberger has played through quite a few different injuries, proving himself to be one of the tougher quarterbacks in the NFL. Calling this injury a “bruise” may have been his latest excuse to convince the coaches that he should be back on the field as soon as possible. That decision may not be up to him, as the Steelers have to protect the star quarterback to make a run in the wide-open AFC.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the Pittsburgh Steelers slipped to the No. 3 seed in the latest NFL playoff standings, but could fall further if Ben Roethlisberger is lost for more than a week.
[Featured Image by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images]
