The Steelers defeated the Browns 30-9 on Sunday behind a big game from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. On its face that seems very ordinary, but in this instance, the performance turned heads because he didn’t start the game.
Roethlisbeger suffered an ugly-looking foot injury against the Raiders last week that had him in a walking boot until Friday. Roethlisberger was very doubtful to play, and on Sunday he was on the bench, active, behind Landry Jones. The move to not have a third quarterback active was curious; Michael Vick is still out with his own injury, leaving Pittsburgh with Jones as their only healthy QB. In the first quarter, disaster struck, with Jones injuring his foot. Surprisingly, Roethlisberger trotted onto the field.
Big Ben Took An Unnecessary Risk Playing On Sunday
The franchise QB went on to throw for 379 yards in the NFL’s greatest “relief” appearance of all-time. It was impressive, and the Steelers notched an important victory, but the process revealed head coach Mike Tomlin’s flaws. Tomlin’s decisions have been shaky at times, and he’s been outcoached in big games, but this faux pas has been his most egregious.
Either Tomlin played with fire by throwing the franchise quarterback into the fire on a bad foot, or he chose to start Landry Jones in a divisional game when his team is fighting for a wildcard spot over a two-time Super Bowl champion.
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"My foot was basically black and blue [early in the week],” Roethlisberger said after the game, hardly sounding like a man who should have been on the field. One tweak of his sprained foot, and the Steelers were staring down the barrel of a game in which tight end Heath Miller was taking snaps. Roethlisberger also had no reps in practice during the week, which meant Tomlin had to scrap his game plan and go with more “one-on-one” instead of “game plan specific” calls.
It makes for a great story, but Steelers fans should look deep into this chain of events, and realize that Tomlin’s gunslinger mentality was stretched too far. His gambling on two-point conversions is defensible because of the talent he has at his disposal on offense, but rolling the dice on Roethlisberger’s health is something he can never do again.
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