After three straight Wednesdays off in advance of Sunday games, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is back to working on the first practice day of the week.
His name doesn’t appear on the Wednesday injury report, which means he fully participated in practice. In Week Three, Week Four, and Week Five, Roethlisberger appeared on the Wednesday report as not practicing, for reasons unrelated to injury.
Roethlisberger wouldn’t say whether he’d be practicing on Wednesday when he met with reporters in the morning, and camera operators were told not to film him during the portion of practice open to reporters.
He was short at times with the media on Wednesday, apparently irritated by the scrutiny he has received after throwing five interceptions on Sunday in a 30-9 loss to the Jaguars and then saying after the game, “Maybe I don’t have it anymore.”
He has since regained his confidence, in part by recalling his accomplishments.
“Two Super Bowls, 100 some wins, 300-some, I don’t even know my own stats,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “I’ve been playing this game longer than you’ve probably been covering it.”
He definitely has a Hall of Fame track record, and if he retired today he’d still deserve a bronze bust in Canton. But that doesn’t insulate him from criticism for subpar performance, especially if he’s going to publicly criticize himself.