It is a Wednesday morning, yet Monday morning quarterbacks and armchair quarterbacks, particularly Pittsburgh Armchair Quarterbacks, are wondering whether Ben Roethlisberger will be lining up under center this weekend, or anytime soon.
Conventional wisdom tells you not only no, but Hell no, especially when considering coach Mike Tomlin's assessment of the situation. It seems that the Steelers' signal caller is legitimately done for the next several weeks at a minimum, or is he? I've looked at the replay a hundred times, several more times in super slow-motion. Now I'm no expert, but it doesn't look too bad, at least not to me. It is nowhere near as blatant or painful looking as that Turkey Jones' sack of Terry Bradshaw back in the day. That infamous sack from 1976 wrecked what was arguably the Steelers' finest season. This sack has the potential of doing the same, considering that many pundits were considering this to be Big Ben's best season, and many were calling this an MVP season for number 7.
Be that as it may, there is a rumor starting to rise out of the 'Burgh that Ben faked the severity of his injury, and that he isn't quite as incapacitated as he or the Steelers' organization will lead us to believe.
One theory is that Ben, the consummate competitor, is merely playing a mid-season game of one-upmanship with Emmanual Sanders. Showing his WR how to execute the fine art of faking an injury. If you recall, this past Friday the NFL announced that it was fining Sanders $15,000 and the Steelers another $35,000 for Sanders taking a flop in the October 21 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The other theory is that Ben was looking at a way to guarantee that he would be by his wife's side whenever she gives birth to baby Ben. In case you hadn't heard, the Roethlisberger's are expecting their first child in the next couple weeks.
Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be a Thanksgiving turkey.
Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be a Thanksgiving turkey.
