OT Roethlisberger Possibly Exaggerated Rib Fracture Story

[maverick4]

Pittsburgh Steelers in dark on Roethlisberger's claim of broken ribs - ESPN

This questions a claim that hack Peter King made in his column today. It appears Big Ben has a history of exaggerating his injuries to make him seem more heroic.

[According to SI.com, Roethlisberger said his fractured ribs did not show up on X-rays taken before he led the Steelers to a 27-23 win over Arizona on Feb. 1, but were revealed only during a MRI test he had last week. "Luckily, in the game, I didn't take any big hits to make 'em hurt," Roethlisberger told SI.com. "But I knew all along there was something wrong. There wouldn't have been anything that could have been done about fractured ribs anyway. It was just suck it up and play.

"There's not a whole lot to say," Steelers spokesman Dave Lockett said Monday. "Ben was fine to go. He was cleared to play. He didn't miss any [practice] time. There was no doubt he was going to play."

Roethlisberger has previously exaggerated or misstated injuries he supposedly suffered during his five-season career.

The day after the January 2005 AFC Championship Game, Roethlisberger said he broke two toes during the 41-27 loss to New England. Coach Bill Cowher emphatically denied that, saying the quarterback merely aggravated a toe injury from college. Roethlisberger never brought up the issue again.

Roethlisberger also said during training camp in 2006 that he played the Steelers' Super Bowl-winning season of 2005 with a broken thumb. Roethlisberger missed no playing time after supposedly being hurt on Nov. 28, 2005, in Indianapolis and the team never revealed any such injury. After Cowher resigned following the 2006 season, Roethlisberger acknowledged he and the coach didn't always get along -- in part, apparently, because Cowher felt the quarterback exaggerated the extent of injuries.

It also was reported that Roethlisberger sustained a spinal cord concussion against Cleveland on Dec. 28, but the team said only that he had a concussion. "Ben's health is often the subject of inaccurate reports," coach Mike Tomlin said before the Super Bowl. "He's fine."]

 

[BradyManny]

Maybe he dinged up the ribs doing a controlled slide on his hog.

 

[mojocaster.com]

He and Lebron should get along famously...

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

This is what I never liked about Ben. Well unless he hasn't learned from the motorcycle accident and is still being irresponsible to his body (and ultimately his team) off the field. But he's never seemed to be shy about talking up his injuries and making it a topic of discussion. He also used to do it during the season which is something that could wind up hurting your team.

 

[Raymond]

I'm just glad he's not the pats QB.

When he's under pressure in the pocket, he'll constantly look around at the pressure around him, instead of calm and cool Brady.......looking downfield where the ball is going.

night and day

 

[CanadianPat'sFan]

Maybe he dinged up the ribs doing a controlled slide on his hog.

 

[tuckeverlasting]

i remember he said he had played with broken toes and the team said no, that did not happen. sounds like a hypochondriac to me.

 

[maverick4]

I wonder what teammates feel about their QB constantly whining about injuries he played with.

 

[JSn]

I wonder if the league is going to investigate. If he did in fact have fractured ribs and it was not on the injury report, it's a violation of league rules.

Course teams bend the rules all the time for a competitive edge... don't they?

 

[maverick4]

It obviously didn't affect his play, he was fine in every practice leading up to the game, and he was fine the entire game.

If I was a Steelers player and I kept hearing my QB try to brag about playing through an injury, AFTER the game, and that he did this multiple times over the years, I would just roll my eyes.

 

[JSn]

It obviously didn't affect his play, he was fine in every practice leading up to the game, and he was fine the entire game.

If I was a Steelers player and I kept hearing my QB try to brag about playing through an injury, AFTER the game, and that he did this multiple times over the years, I would just roll my eyes.

But if you were the Cardinals you'd have sent some spare player on a headhunting mission during the game.

 

[maverick4]

But if you were the Cardinals you'd have sent some spare player on a headhunting mission during the game.

The Cardinals blitzed all game and didn't get him good, he was moving well and elusive. He was obviously not playing hurt, this rib thing is a non issue, just him trying to glorify it after the fact

 

[Triggerfish]

I have to admit, even I think Ben can be a bit dramatic about injuries. Seems that he wants people to think he's "tough". He reminds me a bit of Favre in that aspect. Brett always liked to play the "tough guy" act for the media too. Except for the most part, I'd have to say Favre actually was pretty tough, while Ben seems like a bit of a prima donna when it comes to getting banged up.

All that being said, he did take some pretty hard shots in the AFCCG against Baltimore, so there may be some truth to all of this. But to me, why talk about it now? The SB is over. You won. IF you were actually hurt and played through it....good for you. But at this point, who cares?

So....here's your Steeler fan rolling their eyes.

 

[NEGoldenAge]

It obviously didn't affect his play, he was fine in every practice leading up to the game, and he was fine the entire game.

If I was a Steelers player and I kept hearing my QB try to brag about playing through an injury, AFTER the game, and that he did this multiple times over the years, I would just roll my eyes.

Maybe that's why his offensive line sucked this year..... not particularly motivated to protect a self-absorbed jerk.

 

[madmike77]

He did get speared in the back on a helmet-first hit during the Baltimore game. It was right after he had thrown a pass so he was pretty exposed.

Leftwich started warming up and there was specualtion Roethlisberger might have to leave the game, but he came back in.

The ribs were bothering him as he had x-rays on them during the week leading up to the SB. If there were any cracks I'm sure they were very minor. He didn't appear to be in any discomfort during the game.

 

[PatsDeb]

Why is it that the Steelers never know what injuries this guy has? Isn't this like the 3rd time that he says he has some ailment and they come out and deny it or say they've never heard about it? They should start calling him Ben Munchausen. Sheesh...