Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been listed on his team’s injury report throughout the 2021 season, mainly with a pectoral and hip issue.
But a right shoulder injury also popped up for Roethlisberger last week that had not been there before.
That prompted reporters on Wednesday to ask Roethlisberger if he’d suffered that injury in the Week Eight win over the Browns.
“No, it happened like Oakland, Cincinnati or something. We just don’t tell y’all everything,” Roethlisberger said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.
Setting aside that Roethlisberger meant Las Vegas — in his defense, the Raiders were in Oakland for 16 of his 18 seasons — those games were back in Weeks Two and Three. Though Roethlisberger was on the injury report with the pectoral and hip issue, not disclosing the shoulder issue could be determined a rules violation.
While the NFL rarely punishes teams for lying on their injury reports, the Steelers have been one such team in recent years and the incident also was related to Roethlisberger. In 2019, Pittsburgh was fined $75,000 and head coach Mike Tomlin was fined $25,000 for not listing Roethlisberger as having an elbow injury in Week Two.
Despite his ailments, Roethlisberger hasn’t missed an offensive snap for the Steelers so far this season. He’s completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 1,986 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Pittsburgh plays Detroit at home on Sunday.
