Tomlin says Ben has a “shot” at playing Sunday

Posted by Mike Florio on December 27, 2011, 2:23 PM EDT
Reuters

With the Steelers currently the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoff field and in position to climb all the way to No. 1, they’d benefit from the presence of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday at Cleveland.

And they may have it.

Coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that Roethsliberger, who suffered a sprained ankle 19 days ago against the Browns, has a “shot” to play.

Charlie Batch led the Steelers to a 27-0 win over the Browns.  He had a 3-1 record in 2010 during Roethlisberger’s suspension.

The Steelers can capture the No. 2 seed in the AFC with a win and a Ravens loss to the Bengals.  The road to Indy will wind through Pittsburgh if the Steelers win and the Ravens and Patriots lose.

There’s also an added benefit, if Ben plays.  That tent he wore during Saturday’s game would be available to provide shelter for up to 50 tailgating fans who make the drive to Cleveland.

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44 responses to “Tomlin says Ben has a “shot” at playing Sunday”

  1. How great would it be if the Bengals beat the Ravens this weekend? I would love to see those pretentious Ravens get beat by Andy Dalton.

  3. I personally do not want to see Ben step on the field unless its in round 1 of the NFL playoffs. Or, pending Baltimore and NE choking, round 2 after a healthy bye week. We need all we got going into this tourney. NFL is up for grabs baby.

  4. They should play Batch if they want to win. Roethlisberger can’t move around well enough, and he’ll fall victim to quicksand when he gets hit early and throws his first pick.

  5. Tomlin is a clown (and I don’t care how many rings he has after inheriting Cowher’s team). It would be ironic if he played him and they won the game but lost their QB for the playoffs!

    If the Steelers can’t beat the Browns (the BROWNS!!) without Ben then they don’t deserve a number one spot…

    And thats a fact.

  7. I would keep Batch in there. I would rather have Batch play now instead of risking having to play him in the playoffs. Let Ben get 100% to make a realistic run at the Super Bowl.

  10. Why? You could pull someone out of the stands and put him in there and they would beat Cleveland, and that’s coming from a life long Browns fan.

  12. Wow, lookit him try to claw his way back from a sprained ankle. He truly is the grittiest grit that ever grat.

  21. If Roethlisberger starts hopefully the Steeler defense can hold the Browns to under 10 points.

    It’s probably expecting too much to ask Roethlisberger to match the mind blowing 14 points he got against the Browns earlier.

    That would be like a pitcher throwing two no-hitters in a row … or three if you count his other worldly performance against the Niners.

    Or they could go with Batch and get another easy-does-it 27-0 blowout win.

    GO STEELERS!

  23. Even though the Ravens/Bengals game has playoff implications, do you think any thought was given to moving them to 4:15, same time as Steelers/Browns, in order to prompt the relevance of the above article? Yes, the outcome of the Ravens/Bengals game could possibly influence the decision of whether or not BR starts but having both the Ravens/Steelers going at the same time has to have, even if it’s minimal, an impact on the decision. They could’ve been left at 1:00 and it probably wouldn’t have made much difference given that a number of games have playoff implications. Tebow plays at 4:15 so I would be shocked if the Bronco’s game didn’t get played in non-Ravens/Bengals broadcast areas.
    This all given the NFL’s love affiar for doing what they can to avoid having teams sit players in the final game. Just a thought.

  27. I would start Charlie, but if the both the Steelers and Ravens are losing in the second half then consider letting Ben play IF he is healthy enough. Seriously, if the Steelers had things wrapped up and nothing more to gain they would likely rest many starters anyway and save them for the playoffs. Most important way this game is meaningful is if Ravens lose. Now I don’t want Ben rusty for the playoffs but clearly prefer him to be near 100% healthy.

    GO STEELERS!!

  29. runrickyrun34, I believe youre definitely on to something. Didnt really put that into perspective until you mentioned that. Good call…

  30. Get it right. 27-0 win was over the Rams not the Browns.

    jeesh and you call yourself writer…cant even report on a game that took place 3 days ago.

  32. Runricky same thought.

    Why only move Ravens/Bengals, Steelers/Browns to 4 and leave the other playoff contenders at 1?? Tebow will be shown everywhere but OH,PA and MD.

  33. Forget about Ben getting his “shot.” I am more interested in my teams defense getting a shot at finishing #1 overall. After week 1 and all of those comments about them being old, I’m proud to see those “old guys” back to being the best in the league.

  35. Go ahead and put Big Ben out there like a medal will be rewarded for an iron man. I get it, Ben is a tough guy. However, putting him out there for defenses to T off on him doesnt do the team any good. You already may have cost the Steelers 1 game for started a clearly hobbled Ben against a good defense in San Fran. No one has the heart to tell Ben to sit and tell him if he wasnt playing wreckless he wouldnt have been hurt 2-3 weeks ago. Scrambling left and right is when play breaks down, that is not the actual strategy for the play. Give him an opportunity to heal so they can make a run at 7!!!Go Steelers but let’s be smart about this.

  36. PLEASE, for the love of everything sacred, let the Steelers get the #2 seed. It’s not that I like this team, or even hate Baltimore, but I absolutely cannot deal with Steeler fans going on & on about how they’re “underdogs” this postseason.

  37. Browns in typical fashion find a way to win this game and thus drop their draft pic from 3-4 to 6-7.
    Well……Im ok with this, I hate Pittsburgh that much

  38. clintonportisheadd says:Dec 27, 2011 2:30 PM

    Tomlin is a clown (and I don’t care how many rings he has after inheriting Cowher’s team). It would be ironic if he played him and they won the game but lost their QB for the playoffs!

    If the Steelers can’t beat the Browns (the BROWNS!!) without Ben then they don’t deserve a number one spot…

    And thats a fact
    ———————————————————-
    Cowher’s team which Tomlin inherited was 8-8 the year before Tomlin took over.

    This “clown” as you call him would be hired by almost any team looking for a coach immediately if he were available.

  39. We own cleveland! Always have always will! Joke of a city and joke of a team! Who cares who starts at QB. We could put in elton john & we could win.

  40. Ben, Pouncey, Legursky, Wood and anyone who is (legitimately) trying to recover from performance-compromising injuries should have been sat in the ‘Niner game, the Ram game and the upcoming Browns game.

    It is (or at least, could have been) one of the benefits of securing a FLOOR on how low your playoff seed is. We kind of blew it by starting Ben in the ‘Niner game. Let’s learn from that mistake.

    Get the Steelers healthy for the tournament where everybody starts 0-0. Heck, we’ve gone 4-1 with Batch in Batch’s last 5 starts with our defense — but we NEED Ben to advance against playoff caliber competition.

    Top priority: get healthy (as we can). The playoff seeding is a secondary priority. We could have rested Ben and those other players for a month minimum.

  42. Maybe if Tomlin had sat Ben for the 49ers game we’d already be on top of the AFC North – START BATCH!! If he struggles early you can always try Dixon, or even Ben if the situation warrants it. No disrespect to Cleveland (who are better than they’ve looked in a long time but still a work in progress), but we should be able to beat the Browns with Batch so rest Ben and Woodley and the rest for the playoffs.

  43. Dont look now, but Peyton Hillis is playing some pretty good ball right now along with the Offensive line. This game is going to be a lot closer than most people think. City of Cleveland supports their team and they will be representing. The Browns have a shot at this game with Seneca Wallace and Peyton Hillis.

  44. otothez says:Dec 28, 2011 10:49 AM

    Dont look now, but Peyton Hillis is playing some pretty good ball right now along with the Offensive line. This game is going to be a lot closer than most people think. City of Cleveland supports their team and they will be representing. The Browns have a shot at this game with Seneca Wallace and Peyton Hillis.
    ______________________________

    Your comment made me think a bit about the real possibility of an upset. That is, up until I read your last sentence that included Seneca Wallace. That’s when I realized you were just being sarcastic when saying the browns have a shot – dummy me, you got me.

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