Kevin Colbert, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ GM, doesn’t believe veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger “is at the end of the road”.
Since undergoing surgery on his right elbow in September, there have been doubts about Roethlisberger ever making it back. Colbert is not one of the doubters.
To the contrary, he’s pretty optimistic that ‘Big Ben’, as Roethlisberger is known to his fans, will make a full recovery. And more than that, the two-time Super Bowl winner will return in time for the 2020 seasons
Colbert downplayed speculation that the 37-going-on-38-year-old would retire.
Signs good for complete recovery
“All signs are good at this point and we’re real hopeful he can make a complete recovery,” Colbert said. “As of right now, he’s on schedule for that. Where it goes from here remains to be seen.
“He had an injury to his right arm, but other than that, he’s relatively healthy. We’re not minimising the seriousness of a right arm injury to a right arm quarterback, but we certainly don’t think he’s at the end of the road.”
Colbert added: “Optimistically, he’s on schedule to return and we hope to return to maybe even a better Ben Roethlisberger than he was prior to the injury.
“In the meantime, we understand who our backups are. We’re comfortable with who those backups are. I thought they did a great, representable job in 2019 under the circumstances.”
Injury suffered in Week 2
Roethlisberger suffered the injury in the NBA’s Week 2 when the Seattle Seahawks beat the Steelers 28-6 last year.
He was seen shaking his throwing arm at various points during the first half of the team’s home opener but he eventually had to leave the field.
In April, the six-time Pro Bowler signed a two-year contract extension with the Steelers through the 2021 season.
Since being drafted by the club all the way back in 2004, Roethlisberger has since played 218 games, and completed 4,651 passes for 56,545 yards and 363 touchdowns.
NFL offensive rookie of the year
In his first year with the Steelers The 6ft 5in, 240-pounder earned the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. A year later he became the youngest Super Bowl-winning quarterback in NFL history. He was 23 when he led the Steelers to a 21–10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.
He again led the Steelers when they won their second Super Bowl title in four seasons. They defeated the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 in a Bowl thriller His game-winning touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes was thrown just 35 seconds from the end.
He also played in Super Bowl XLV, but the Steelers went down 25-31 to the Green Bay Packers.
Over the years Roethlisberger has been one of the most efficient passers in NFL history. He currently is ranked 6th all-time in NFL career passing yards and 9th all-time in passer rating (94.0),
He is also tied for 6th in yards per attempt (7.93), and for 10th in completion percentage (63.85%)’
Furthermore he is one of only six quarterbacks in NFL history who have beaten at least 31 of the current NFL teams.
The man is a Steelers legend. It’s no wonder they won’t let him go easily.