2012 NFL season: Pittsburgh Steelers offence exposed to QB Big Ben’s fitness – NFL Feature
Pittsburgh Steelers’ star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is fast approaching the maturity phase of his career. This is what he admitted recently. He is aging and has been using himself selectively and smartly.
For example, he said he has reduced the number of walk-through throws considerably down. Earlier, he used to throw at every attempt but now he throws only a few throws.
An apparent fact about the player’s maturity is also reflective in his health and fitness over the past two years, at least. It has proved to be an injury-riddled and injury-prone phase for him.
He first suffered a sprained ankle into the latter part of the 2011 National Football League (NFL) season. Somehow, he continued playing albeit amid a controversial situation. He missed only one game against the St. Louis Rams.
Both the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens were neck-to-neck on the league’s table. Since the Steelers had conceded the tiebreaker advantage to the rivals, courtesy of their losses in both regular season games earlier, they were in a must-win
situation to claim the American Football Conference (AFC) North division title.
At the end, they were reduced to the playoff opportunity through a wild card. Yet the participation and performance of their offence leader Ben was crucial to their win in every game. So in spite of carrying the injury, the QB played all
games but one. He reported his recovery from the problem this offseason.
Unfortunately, Ben has remained on and off about the health issues throughout the offseason. The most startling was Ben’s recent disclosure that he is still carrying the rotator tear he had suffered in the game against the Baltimore Ravens
in November 2011.
He insisted it was only soreness and that he was fine with the workout at training camp. Interestingly, it earlier was mistaken to be a shoulder injury.
A couple of days to his disclosure about the tear he suffered another ankle injury at training camp. Both, the player and coach Mike Tomlin, insist it was only a bruise and the player should be able to return to action without an interruption.
It nevertheless confirmed that the player was completely exposed and prone to injuries. Whether minor or serious he has already suffered about half a dozen injury scares over the past two years. This also shows how fragile and sensitive
he has become with the passage of time – a rather disappointing development for the Steelers - amid their aim for another Super Bowl run under the reign of Big Ben.
The below-the-mark fitness of the player has also put the team’s immediate future at stake. Roethlisberger’s fitness is even more exposed and also more crucial to the performance of Steelers’ offence under the new QBs coach Todd Haley.
He has transformed the team’s offensive strategy to run-focused.
There is no other solution for the Steelers at the moment than to hope that Ben remains 100 percent throughout this season.
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