Let's cut to the chase, you sit Ben Roethlisberger vs the Rams

[RIVERS OF STEEL]

Sounds like they're going to shut Ben down the rest of the reg season.


Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has not announced his intentions at quarterback publicly or within the organization, but it is widely believed in the front office that Ben Roethlisberger will rest his high ankle sprain against the St. Louis Rams and could sit out Week 17 as well.


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Roethlisberger was clearly hobbled during Monday's 20-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. He was immobile and had to adjust his plant foot on throws to compensate for the injury. With Pittsburgh assured a playoff spot and trailing the Baltimore Ravens for the AFC North title on a tiebreaker, the Steelers will focus on being healthy for the postseason.

Charlie Batch is Roethlisberger's backup. Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians prefers the veteran to Dennis Dixon, but others in the organization believe Dixon's athleticism and improvisational skills make him the more viable starter. Should Batch struggle and become a sitting target behind a wounded offensive line, Dixon might see the field.

On Tuesday, Tomlin denied wanting to sit Roethlisberger during Monday night's game, contradicting the quarterback's own account of being approached to come out late. Tomlin did acknowledge that the injury affected Roethlisberger's game.

"I'm sure it did," Tomlin told SiriusXM NFL Radio. "A lot of his game is predicated on mobility and so forth. But he wanted to give it a shot, we wanted him to give it a shot. We don't make any excuses for what we tried to do (Monday)."

Center Maurkice Pouncey, who missed Monday night's game, is likely to sit another week as well, according to sources.

Hope so. Remember the Steelers tried to kill McCoy. Tit for fn Tat. No point in seein ben get trashed again by that pos team from up by the lake. All for pulling him to get healthy.

[DIESELMAN]

I think they would need to win 1 more. They would be tied with the Jets if they win out. I'm not sure what the tie-breaker is. Their divisional records at the moment are the same 3-2.

The Steelers have locked up a playoff spot no matter what happens these last 2 games. The only thing up in the air, is who wins the AFC North, Balt wins out, they get the crown. They lose 1 game and we win out, we get the crown.

[steelspikes]

NFL.com has just reported that Steelers plan to rest Ben.http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d...cle/steelers-s

[Nolrog]

I think resting Ben is the best idea. In fact, Ben, Woodly, Pouncey, Troy, Ike. I'd rest them all if not the whole game, then for for at least half. Time to get healthy for the playoffs.

[roosterray]

I believe Ben hurt or not gave us the best chance to win last night, home field was on the line etc

now i firmly believe they should sit Ben the last 2 games... period. home field is gone, and we are already in the playoffs.

We wont win in playoffs w/ Batch or Dixon, get Ben healthy now!

Agreed

[BlitzburghRockCity]

Gametime decision or not, sit the dude down. He hasn't practiced this week, he didn't practice much at all last week. If you don't get him the rest he needs he's never going to heal up. I'm telling you the closer this game gets, sit him down, and let Batch go in and play this game. Run the hell out of the ball on Saturday afternoon, mix in some play action and a few longer plays and call it a day.

You keep this up and he's going to limp into the playoffs with no practice time and continue to have bad performances like we saw on Monday night.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, still noticeably bothered by a high-left ankle sprain, didn't practice for the second straight day Thursday.

Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said Roethlisberger is a game-day decision for Saturday's contest against the St. Louis Rams at Heinz Field.

When asked about sitting Roethlisberger as the Rams are doing with Sam Bradford and a similar injury, Arians barked at the notion.

"They're not in same boat we're in," said Arians, who said they made decision to play Roethlisberger this past Monday after seeing the quarterback move in pregame warmups. "We're still playing for a bye and a lot of things, back-to-back 12-4 season. There's no reason for that."

Center Maurkice Pouncey also sat out Thursday's practice, along with running back Mewelde Moore and rookie cornerback Curtis Brown. Pouncey was optimistic about playing Saturday despite a high ankle sprain, then said, "It's one chance in a million. I can walk around and I can move, so pain tolerance is OK. We've got a couple of more days."

Brown, whose leads the Steelers in special teams tackles, missed Monday night's game at San Francisco with a knee injury.

Linebacker LaMarr Woodley, who left Monday's game after aggravating a hamstring injury, saw limited practice. He said he felt confident about his playing status. Linebacker Chris Carter and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders were limited, too. Arians said Sanders needed to practice to have an opportunity to play.

With Moore out with an MCL sprain, John Clay is likely to be activated. But offensive coordinator Bruce Arians didn't rule out going with just two running backs — Rashard Mendenhall (sore ribs) and Isaac Redman.

>> The Steelers allowed more points (20) against San Francisco than they did in their previous three games, primarily because of their success holding opponents to 39 percent on third-down efficiency. They held the 49ers to 31 percent while the offense was at 57 percent, but four turnovers wiped out the third-down advantages.
"That's the way it goes sometimes," nose tackle Casey Hampton said. "We had a lot of turnovers and we didn't get any on defense. They made a couple of good plays that were the difference."

Defensive end Ziggy Hood agreed.

"It did long run it hurt the team," Hood said. "We have to do even better on Saturday. You do a good job of stopping them on third down, but they make a play later on that hurts, especially when they score. We just didn't provide enough opportunities for our offense to make any plays."