The League

Ward: Steelers split on QB decision

Wide receiver Hines Ward told NBC before the Pittsburgh Steelers' overtime loss Sunday night in Baltimore that opinion was divided among Steelers players about whether quarterback Ben Roethlisberger should have been playing in the game.

Roethlisberger sat out the game, a week after suffering a concussion during a defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs. An independent neurologist reportedly recommended that Roethlisberger not play against the Ravens.

Ward told NBC, according to a written transcript provided by the network: "This game is almost like a playoff game. It's almost a must-win. I could see some players or teammates questioning like, 'It's just a concussion. I've played with a concussion before.' It's almost like a 50-50 tossup in the locker room: Should he play? Shouldn't he play? It's really hard to say.

"I've been out there dinged up, the following week, got right back out there. Ben practiced all week. He split time with Dennis Dixon. And then to find out that he's still having some headaches and not playing and it came down to the doctors didn't feel that they were going to clear him or not--it's hard to say unless you're the person itself.

"I've lied to a couple of doctors saying I'm straight, I feel good when I know that I'm not really straight. I don't think guys really worry about the future while they're playing currently in the NFL.... Trust me, the players want to go out there because these games you don't get back. You're never going to get this Baltimore-Pittsburgh game back. This is a big game. Unfortunately Ben can't play, so the 53 other guys have to rally the team and see if we can win one down here."

After the game, Ward reportedly backed down from his pregame comments and said his remarks to NBC were made out of frustration that Roethlisberger wasn't available to play in the game.

"Me calling him out or whatever, that wasn't my intention," Ward said, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "... We needed him out there. We wanted him out there. This is the biggest game of the year. We lose and we kind of dug ourselves in a hole. I just wish we would have had all of our weapons out there."

Ward said there's no need for him to discuss the matter with Roethlisberger.

"I don't know what I have to say," Ward said, according to the Tribune-Review. "I'm not going to get into a war or words with my own quarterback. It was just frustrating because we didn't find out that he wasn't starting until Saturday. Finding out your starting quarterback's not playing until Saturday, it was shocking."

NBC analysts Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison were critical of Ward's pregame comments.

"It really surprised me," Harrison said, according to NBC's written transcript. "You look at Hines and Ben and they've been teammates for six years, won two Super Bowls together, and for him to question his quarterback's toughness really shocked me. If Tom Brady had a hang nail, never would any of the guys question Tom Brady. So it really shocked me that he questioned his toughness."

Said Dungy: "As a coach, that's why you can't listen to the players. You can't listen to, 'Hey, I'm okay.' You have to go with the doctors. Mike Tomlin, I'm sure, is going with the doctors' view on this.... The thing I don't understand is why he's the third quarterback tonight.... The third quarterback would have played last week because they had two quarterbacks get hurt. I think if he's out, he should be out."

Tomlin reportedly said that if Roethlisberger had been forced to play in the game because of injuries to Dixon and Tyler Palko, Roethlisberger merely would have handed off the ball. Tomlin also said he wasn't concerned about locker room division over the episode.

"I'm not worried about a problem in the locker room," Tomlin said, according to the Tribune-Review. "In that instance maybe Hines was uninformed. I didn't give him the detailed explanation that went into the decision-making terms of what [neurologist Joseph] Maroon suggested."

Roethlisberger said, according to the Tribune-Review: "I want to go out there and play, but the doctors told me it wasn't a good decision. The coaches told me the same thing, so I wasn't playing."

By Mark Maske  |  November 30, 2009; 9:34 AM ET  | Category:  Steelers Save & Share:                 
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Posted by: jeffreid1 | November 30, 2009 1:49 PM

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