Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said Wednesday the sprained right shoulder that was the immediate concern isn’t his biggest worry.
Roethlisberger told reporters he also dislocated a rib Monday night, and that doctors were concerned it could cut into his aorta. He said he didn’t think it was a season-ending injury, but when you start talking about an aorta, this clearly goes beyond the “rub some dirt on it” treatment.
“I don’t think so, I don’t know though but I’m not a medical expert,” Roethlisberger said, via the Associated Press. “I just know I’m going to do what I can to get back.”
Roethlisberger said he’s still in serious pain, pegging it as “nine on a scale of 1-10.”
He said he’s slept a total of four hours over the last two nights, and wore a sling to talk to reporters because doctors don’t want the rib jostled out of place while it heals.
“I can move [the arm] around, that’s not the issue,” Roethlisberger said. “Sometimes when I do move it the rib will kind of pop out of place again, which is pretty painful. I just try to keep it as still as I can for the most part.”
The Steelers announced earlier in the day that Byron Leftwich would start this week, and from the sounds of things, perhaps longer.