Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said yesterday he has not considered benching Ben Roethlisberger and inserting Mason Rudolph at quarterback, but he acknowledged that the team needs to play better football, Big Ben included.
Tomlin revealed that Roethlisberger injured his hip in Sunday’s game, further limiting his already-questionable ability to escape a pass rush. The quarterback has been sacked 10 times already in just four games this season, after being sacked only 13 times in all of 2020. The coach said Big Ben’s issues are “fixable,” except for mobility.
Tomlin says the Steelers as a team have missed some opportunities to make what he calls “chunk plays,” big yardage gains that can cover for a poor running game. Roethlisberger missed a wide open JuJu Smith-Schuster on a potential touchdown pass on Sunday.
In injury news, the woeful offensive line lost guard Kevin Dotson on Sunday. Tomlin did not update his status, or the status of cornerback Cam Sutton, who was also hurt on Sunday. He did say that wide receiver Chase Claypool and tackle Chuks Okorafor could be back this Sunday against Denver, and a decision will be made on tackle Zach Banner, who has missed all four of the games this season while he works on returning from knee surgery. The team has two weeks left to activate Banner or they must release him or keep him on injured reserve for the rest of the season.
Tomlin says the Denver defense is a tough, veteran group led by one of the all-time greats, linebacker Von Williams.
The Broncos hope to have more information about the availability of their starting quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, who took a blow to the head last Sunday and is in the NFL concussion protocol. Wide receiver Diontae Spencer has a chest injury, cornerback Pat Surtain II suffered a “midsection” injury, and the Broncos two starting guards are injured. Dalton Risner is termed “probable” for now and the team is uncertain of the status of Graham Glasgow.
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