Questioning and calling out Big Ben for sitting out with concussion.
After guiding the Steelers to a pair of Super Bowl wins and absorbing 221 sacks over six seasons, you'd think Ben Roethlisberger(notes) would have earned a little credibility with his teammates – particularly among pass-catching teammates. But apparently not.
Hines Ward(notes) shared a few Big Ben-related pregame thoughts with NBC's Bob Costas:
"This game is almost like a playoff game. It's almost a must-win. I could see some players or teammates questioning, like 'It's just a concussion. I've played with a concussion before,'" Ward told Costas in an interview taped Saturday at the team's suburban-Baltimore hotel as a prelude to the Steelers-Ravens game.
"It's almost like a 50-50 toss-up in the locker room: Should he play? Shouldn't he play? It's really hard to say. I've been out there dinged up; the following week, got right back out there. Ben practiced all week. He split time with Dennis Dixon(notes). And then to find out that he's still having some headaches and not playing and it came down to the doctors didn't feel that they were going to clear him or not – it's hard to say. Unless you're the person [himself]. … I've lied to a couple of doctors saying I'm straight, I feel good when I know that I'm not really straight."
Roethlisberger practiced with the Steelers throughout the week, but he was still dealing with exercise-induced headaches so the team's neurosurgeon recommended that he not play. Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh's coaching staff complied. That seems perfectly reasonable, considering the mounting evidence that suggests repeated concussions lead to severe, life-shortening neurological disorders.
But for Ward, it's really hard to say. He would maybe just lie. It was almost like a must-win. (Even though it wasn't, not at all. The Steelers are a six-win team, they have five games remaining and their next two opponents are Oakland and Cleveland).
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Originally Posted by we are
