Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s status for Sunday night is in doubt, but coach Mike Tomlin offered the bare minimum in a health update Tuesday.
He has a sprained sternoclavicular joint.
“Whatever that is,” Tomlin said, “I coach football.”
The injury is to the area at which the sternum meets the collarbone, and no immediate timetable for treatment or recovery was available from the Steelers.
ESPN earlier Tuesday reported that Roethlisberger’s shoulder injury is significant, and could force him to miss extended period, citing a source close to the team.
Roethlisberger went down hard on a sack by the Kansas City Chiefs’ Justin Houston, on Pittsburgh’s first possession of the third quarter, and didn’t return. He had an MRI on his right shoulder at a hospital. A second MRI was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
The injury is of the same nature of injury that caused Brett Favre’s 297-game streak of consecutive starts to end in 2010. At the time of Favre’s injury, he was told he could miss between three weeks and three months, had to wear a sling and would likely experience moderate discomfort with the overhead throwing motion for many years.
For now, Roethlisberger will be in “the questionable category,” Tomlin said, and the Steelers aren’t ready to rule him out for this week.
Early reports said Roethlisberger suffered a sprain, but doctors wanted further tests. A complete analysis won’t be available until later Tuesday.
The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Steelers face their chief rivals, the Baltimore Ravens, twice in the next three weeks. Pittsburgh is 0-4 since drafting Roethlisberger when playing the Ravens without him.
Byron Leftwich relieved Roethlisberger and went 7-of-14 for 73 yards. The Steelers beat Kansas City, 16-13, in overtime for their fourth straight win. NFL.com reported Steelers players were being told to prepare as if Roethlisberger wouldn’t play this week.