In a Sunday interview with NFL Network, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin discussed a variety of topics, including quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s injured foot, which produced this week an unusual decision by the team to issue a statement refuting a report that he currently has a broken bone.
“He broke his fifth metatarsal some time ago,” Tomlin said, “we’re not exactly sure. Seven, eight, nine years ago. It was re-aggravated several weeks back, um, it got re-aggravated again in the Buffalo game, we took him in at halftime, took a picture of it, and he was able to proceed. There was a lot of pain and discomfort.”
That “um” is telling. That “um” looks like an attempt by Tomlin to take back the disclosure that Roethlisberger suffered an injury that wasn’t disclosed on the injury report.
Indeed, Roethlisberger hasn’t appeared on the injury report for any reason of late, which means that if, as Tomlin said, the injury was “re-aggravated several weeks back,” the Steelers fudged their recent injury reports.
Either way, Tomlin said that Roethlisberger will play on Sunday night against the Ravens.