During his first training camp press conference, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said that while quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is still experiencing a little discomfort in the knee that was surgically repaired during the final week of OTA practices; it won\’t prevent him from doing what he needs to do on the practice fields.
“He has a little bit of discomfort but that is not going to stop him,” said Tomlin. “This position is not one that has a great deal of running. It is less of an issue for us and more of a personal issue for him, but he will be fine.”
Following the Saturday morning walk-through, Roethlisberger told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that his right knee is fine, although he did not want to dispute Tomlin\’s remarks made on Friday.
In addition to updating the status of his knee, the Steelers quarterback also told Bouchette that his relationship with offensive coordinator Todd Haley is better than it was last year, and that he considers the offense a new toy and he can\’t wait to see what comes out of it.
As far as his injury history, Roethlisberger told Bouchette that he feels fortunate he hasn\’t suffered a major injury during his career, even though he\’s only played in all 16 regular-season games just once in his first nine years in the league.
As far as Roethlisberger\’s knee goes, Tomlin would have placed his quarterback on the PUP list on Friday if he really had any concerns about the discomfort. Being as the Roethlisberger likely wasn\’t pushed like the other players were during the Friday conditioning run, the Steelers head coach probably just wanted to say something injury related to back up why he wasn\’t pushed.
I’m not certain,” Tomlin said when he was asked about Roethlisberger\’s run test results. “We knew it was in debate on whether he was going to run or not, and I wasn’t really looking. The quarterbacks run, but I was more concerned about looking at the big people. So I’m more concerned about watching the big people then the quarterbacks.”
Roethlisberger\’s remarks about Haley and the offense match the optimism the quarterback has had throughout the offseason. Roethlisberger has said and done all the right things since the 2012 season ended and there is no reason to think that won\’t continue moving forward.
