Ben Roethlisberger not Ruling Himself out this Week

For the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was a case of another win, another injury last week. An emotional 38-35 shootout win over the Oakland Raiders was soured by the sight of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger leaving the field for the second time in his last three starts.

Raiders pass rusher Aldon Smith landed on Roethlisberger’s heel while Big Ben’s foot was perpendicular to the turf in what looked like another long-term injury. However, the bruised and battered signal caller has yet to rule himself out of this week’s game against the Browns, let alone for multiple weeks to follow.

“The bye will come at a good time, but I’m not even going to rule myself out this week,” he announced on Pittsburgh radio. “I’m going to take it one day at a time. I can walk on it. I’m not running around or anything but the smart thing to do…is to keep ice on it and get the swelling out and just kind of rest it, let it heal.”

Roethlisberger may have a reputation for displaying toughness and coming back from injury early, but he has also been known for stinking up the joint in his determination to play hurt. When your defense holds the AFC’s most complete team to only 16 points, you need to win that game. Instead, Ben threw 3 interceptions and generally looked out of sync all day against the Bengals in his week 8 return.

In the still-probable event that Ben can’t play Sunday, Landry Jones will leapfrog former backup Mike Vick and earn his second start of the season.

Jones had an inauspicious first start two weeks ago against the Chiefs at Arrowhead, throwing 2 interceptions and losing a fumble on Pittsburgh’s final drive. Still, there was a bit to like out of his performance; namely, feeding Antonio Brown to the tune of 6 catches for 124 yards.

If the Steelers can get even half the production out of their all-star wideout as they did last week against Oakland, Jones shouldn’t have to shoulder too much of the burden en route to beating a woeful Browns outfit and securing a 6-4 record before a much needed bye.