Big Ben "done for a while"

[chi-townlove1]

Team fears significant injury to QB
Ed Werder [ARCHIVE]

ESPN | November 13, 2012
The Pittsburgh Steelers fear quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has suffered a pretty significant injury to his throwing shoulder, an injury that a source close to the team says is probably going to take a while to heal.

Big Trouble Without Big Ben
Ben Roethlisberger has been on the field for nearly 90 percent of the Steelers regular-season snaps over the last five years including 92 percent of Pittsburgh's designed pass plays.

It seemed highly unusual and perhaps an indication of the seriousness of the injury that Roethlisberger went from the stadium to the hospital for an MRI on his right shoulder so late at night and remained there past midnight.

Sources say initial reports on Roethlisberger show a sprain, but a source who was with Roethlisberger on Monday night told ESPN that doctors informed the quarterback they wanted further evaluations and a complete diagnosis won't be available until later Tuesday.

The Steelers have a short week to prepare for the archrivals Baltimore Ravens, their opponent in two of the next three weeks and the AFC north leader.

The Steelers have two veteran backup quarterbacks in Byron Leftwich and Charlie Batch -- neither of whom has played much recently because of their own injuries and because Roethlisberger has been so durable.

Roethlisberger was sacked by the Chiefs' Justin Houston to end Pittsburgh's first possession of the second half. Roethlisberger finished 9-of-18 for 84 yards and a touchdown for the Steelers, who won their fourth straight game by beating Kansas City 16-13 in overtime to improve to 6-3.

Coach Mike Tomlin wouldn't speculate Monday night on the severity of Roethlisberger's injury.

Roethlisberger has been largely injury-free this season in offensive coordinator Todd Haley's system, which requires him to get rid of the ball quickly. Kansas City's secondary, however, shut down Pittsburgh's receivers, and Roethlisberger took a series of hits on a wet night at Heinz Field.

Leftwich replaced Roethlisberger and finished 7-of-14 for 73 yards in the victory. Leftwich managed to lead the Steelers on one scoring drive early in the fourth that gave them a 13-10 lead.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

ESPN Conversations

[lolollort]

Steelers are done without Big Ben....hopefully he can return in 2-3 weeks.

It looks like a shoulder sprain per NFL.com

Source

[NYSPORTS98]

Smith, Cutler, Vick & Ben go down in weekend. The NFL is not happy

[lolollort]

Smith, Cutler, Vick & Ben go down in weekend. The NFL is not happy

def not with 3/4 of them being concussions...

[Ch0ZSeN1]

In comes Comissioner Roger making new rules for hitting the quarterback now

[lolollort]

In comes Comissioner Roger making new rules for hitting the quarterback now

A sack is going to be tagging the QB if this keeps up.

[Jint.]

I hope he back for my fantasy playoffs..

[Pinstripe power]

so ben might miss both ravens games?


baltimore is destined to be the worst 12-4 or 13-3 team in history its starting to seem

[j11430]

I hope he back for my fantasy playoffs..

He probably will be, and at a perfect time. They'll probably still be in position to make the playoffs so he'll be putting up good numbers when it matters most for you haha

I can see them going 2-2 the next four games and Ben will hopefully be back by then. Even if he's done for the season I can see them winning those last three (Dallas, Cincinnati, Cleveland) as well. Any other team I'd be worried about them, but with their defense I think they'll be ok.

[subroc]

so ben might miss both ravens games...

Talk about the planet aligning!

[Pinstripe power]

Talk about the planet aligning!

serves the NFL right for beign stupid and scheduling botht hose games in a 3 week span

[HowFit]

Hope he heals quickly...

[Jets Fan Tdot]

Talk about the planet aligning!

With...?

[Gritz]

Get a steroid injection and get back on the field

[BDawk4Prez]

If I were the Steelers, I'd be on the phone with McNabb right away.

Not sure how much i would trust Leftwich.