Pittsburgh Steelers: Ben Roethlisberger feeling discomfort in knee
By Matt Shetler
For the Pittsburgh Steelers to have any chance of competing during the 2013 season, franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger must be on the field for all 16 regular season games.
That’s something that didn’t happen a season ago when Roethlisberger missed time due to injuries to his ribs and shoulder.
Jun 11, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers running backs coach Kirby Wilson (left) instructs as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (right) listens during minicamp at the UPMC Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Big Ben took steps towards that by having minor knee surgery in the offseason, looking ahead to being completely healthy for training camp. But even though Roethlisberger said a couple of weeks ago that his knee felt better than ever before, that may not be the case as the Steelers started training camp on Friday.
Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Friday that Roethlisberger has been experiencing “a little discomfort” in the knee he had scoped early in June.
However the good news is that Tomlin noted that the discomfort was not a setback and the fact that Roethlisberger is back on the field to start off camp is more meaningful than the fact that he’s having some discomfort. He also noted that there’s no better time to get it out of the way than on the first few days of practice for the upcoming season.
Really this is no big deal at all as it pertains to Roethlisberger’s status for the upcoming campaign.
However if there still is some discomfort at this time next month then there should be a cause for Steelers’ fans to stat to get a little bit nervous. We saw linebacker James Harrison take longer than expected to recover from simple knee surgery a season ago and it cost Harrison the first three weeks of the 2012 season.
I don’t expect to see something similar with Roethlisberger.
Things look like they are proceeding normally with Roethlisberger and I fully expect to see a completely healthy No. 7 under center when the Steelers open up the 2013 season against the Tennessee Titans.