It was a minor procedure people. Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had minor knee surgery earlier this week to clean up some cartilage issues that had bothered him for the first seven days of OTA’s. According to team doctors, this was a surgery that often follows earlier procedures on knees and would not keep Roethlisberger from being ready for training camp in August.
Despite the fact that Head Coach Mike Tomlin was very ‘matter of fact’ when discussing the surgery, it nevertheless sent many fans into a state of hysterics which may have led some to leap from bridges in the Steel City.
I saw tweets with “How long is Ben out?” “Will he miss the season opener?” “Oh great Ben is injured again.” Those were actually some of the comments that didn’t have some form of cussing in them.
Look, I get your concern. Ben has been banged up a lot in his career and anytime the thought of him going under the knife is cause for alarm but the way some folks and dare I say ‘Yinzers’ were reacting, you’d have thought he had a hip replaced and his left arm removed. The guy is entering his tenth season people. He plays with reckless abandon and whether you love him or hate him you have to grant him the fact that he’s a tough S.O.B.
Can you imagine the fan reation if Roethlisberger had waited and had this done in August? I can and it isn’t pretty.
There is a reason the Steelers went out and signed Bruce Gradkowski this off-season and it isn’t just because he’s a local kid. Well, OK, that’s probably the biggest reason, but I digress. The Steelers know first-hand that Gradkowski in short stints can be an effective NFL quarterback. He’s the same guy that led Oakland to huge three touchdown surge in beating the Steelers at Heinz Field a few years ago.
Should Roethlisberger have to miss any time Gradkowski will be fine especially if the running game is as improved as many believe it will be but let’s get back to the matter at hand. My sources tell me that Ben is fine, already up walking around and will be 100% for camp so while the extra visits to church this week have been very thoughtful, they’ve been unnecessary.
You may return to your regularly scheduled summer.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @steeldad and follow the website at @SCBlitz. He can be heard Mondays on Trib-Live Radio at 4pm ET talking Steelers.
