Big Ben, Byron Leftwich ousting puts Pittsburgh Steelers playoffs chance on line – NFL News
A couple of serious injury blows have put the opportunity of making the playoffs this season by the Pittsburgh Steelers on the line with or without wildcard chance.
It will be a rather serious disappointment for the team who were through the playoffs conveniently a season earlier, although they had ruined the opportunity in very first game in the second phase, by losing comprehensively to the Denver Broncos.
The Steelers’ start of the season was very sluggish indeed and their finish to the regular season appears to heading to a disappointing end. Before losing to the Baltimore Ravens last week they had done well to pull themselves together from earlier losses.
Since then they have slipped back into the gloom and although their next game is not a very competitive side of the Cleveland Browns, with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich it will be a tough game for them, and they might find themselves
struggling than easing way to a win.
Ben has suffered a dislocated rib, a rare injury that has forced him out. The optimistic view of the player’s health picture was well within the ambitions of the team that he should be able to return to action in a couple of weeks.
If Ben is absent from the team for a longer period it will be a serious setback to their playoff hopes. With six more games left in the regular season, Steelers (6-4) are almost tied with the Cincinnati Bengals (5-5) in the division.
A couple of more victories can put the Bengals ahead of them, though the wins for them will not be easy at all. They are so dependent on Ben that they have already ended up their Ravens’ tie without him in the side.
At the end, they might compete for the wildcard opportunity with the Bengals and some other teams, where luck will also matter. The Bengals happened to make the playoffs out of nowhere last year and it was by sheer luck. The Steelers can if they are able
to pull off some successive victories without Ben to keep their playoff chance well intact.
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