Ben Roethlisberger: 'I'm Not Even Going To Rule Myself Out This Week'
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan)- Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger may have an injured foot, but says he hasn't ruled himself out of this Sunday's game.
Roethlisberger made the comments during The Cook and Poni Show on Sportsradio 93.7 The Fan for the #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show which airs every Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. during the Steelers season.
The Steelers are coming off a thrilling 38-35 win over the Oakland Raiders but they appeared to lose Ben Roethlisberger to injury.
When asked about the mid-foot sprain he suffered that will reportedly keep him out a least a couple of weeks, Ben told a very different story about the prognosis.
"The bye will come at a good time, but I'm not even going to rule myself out this week," Roethlisberger told us. "I'm going to take it one day at a time."
While still holding out hope that he could play this week, Ben shared with us how the foot feels right now and what he's doing to help it heal.
"I can walk on it. I'm not running around or anything but the smart thing to do, from what doc has told me and the trainers is just to kinda keep ice on it and get the swelling out and just kind of rest it, let it heal."
Having suffered his second serious injury of the season now, Ben was asked about not only the injuries he has suffered, but also the injuries suffered by his teammates and if he's starting to think this team is cursed.
"You know, it just happens," Roethlisberger said. "I don't know how to explain it other than it's a violent, physical sport. It's what we signed up for and some teams go through it. Like I said every week, we have to stay healthy. It's always our number one goal and every individual's goal. It's not easy to do, but we have to find ways to persevere."
Despite the injury that ended his day early, Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown were still able to put together a huge day in the passing game, but to hear Ben talk about their connection, they could have done even more.
"I still, going back and looking at it I said this after the game and looking back at it again I'll still say it, I think the line played great and I think the skill guys were very average, myself included...Just little details here and there that we weren't sharp on and that's myself, that's Antonio Brown. And I know people are like, "That's crazy, look at how many yards and catches and everything he had," but we look at it with a critical eye. Him and I have talked, we talked Sunday night when I was on my way back from the hospital, him and I talked, and I told him, so it's not like this is a surprise to him that we left yards out there, we left plays out there."
Another skill player that had himself a big day on Sunday was DeAngelo Williams and Ben didn't hold back his praise for Le'Veon Bell's replacement.
"I thought he did awesome, I was proud of him. I talked to him Sunday night as well and he did some great things. Running the ball obviously, giving us big plays when we needed it, putting his head down and getting the tough yard when we needed it. I thought his day was very impressive."
For the second time this season, backup Quarterback Landry Jones has taken over and led the team to victory. Ben spoke about the job Landry has done this year and specifically the job he did in helping seal the win against the Raiders.
"I thought he did a great job, that's what a good backup does. He has to be ready at all times, it's never easy to be a backup because you never know when your number is going to be called...I've said this many times that I've been blessed throughout my career to have some great backups behind me that help me but also ready to step up at a moments notice and I thought Landry has done a great job with that."
The #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show is heard exclusively every Tuesday at 11 am during the Steelers season on The Cook and Poni Show on Sportsradio 93-7 The Fan.
You can hear more from Roethlisberger here as he also talked about who will make the final call on his status for Sunday's game against the Browns and what it feels like having passed both Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana this past week on the all-time passing list.
