Patriots fans aren’t the only ones who noticed Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger using what appeared to be a cell phone device during Thursday night’s game against the Ravens. The NFL noticed, too. And the NFL looked into the situation.
Via Tom Curran of CSN New England, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said league operations employees took a photo of the thing Roethlisberger was handling.
The team and the league separately have told PFT it was a wristband with the team’s offensive plays on it. While still images have raised suspicions of cell phone use, the several seconds of CBS video (starting with 2:58 left in the second quarter) show an item that is curved and appears to be laminated on top.
In fairness to those who suspect foul play, Roethlisberger seems to be looking around after shoving the thing back in his sweatshirt, almost as if to see whether anyone saw what he had been doing. However, it seems clear at this point that he wasn’t using a phone in violation of league rules during a game.