After suffering a mid-foot sprain in Week Nine, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t supposed to play in Week 10, and perhaps longer than that. Thanks to the healing powers of milk, Roethlisberger was well enough to serve as the game-day backup to Landry Jones.
Then, when Jones suffered a knee injury early in the game against the Browns, Roethlisberger led the Steelers to a convincing win, with 379 yards passing, three touchdowns, and a passer rating of 123.2. For the effort, Roethlisberger has been named the AFC offensive player of the week.
It’s Roethlisberger’s 13th player of the week award, but his first for a game in which he wasn’t in the starting lineup.
According to the NFL, Roethlisberger’s 379 passing yards were the most ever thrown by a non-starting, surpassing the prior mark of 374, set by former Vikings quarterback Wade Wilson in 1990.