Ben Roethlisberger confirms he did not suffer a concussion but unsure how much he will play against Titans

The third preseason game of the year is generally the one in which most of the starters will receive a significant amount of playing time, but that might not necessarily be the case for all of the Pittsburgh Steelers starters on Saturday when they play the Tennessee Titans.

When speaking to the media on Tuesday morning, Ben Roethlisberger seemed unsure how many snaps he would see at Heinz Field on the weekend.

“I am not really sure. I haven’t spoken to Coach (Mike Tomlin) on it.”

The Steelers star quarterback has already been cleared from concussion protocols and Roethlisberger confirmed that he hadn’t actually suffered a concussion at all when discussing the hit with the reporters at team facilities.

“You don’t expect to get hit, and then to get hit from the blind side, Gil [Marcus Gilbert] just happened to be pushing the guy around and caught me just right. It knocked the wind out of me a little bit too.”

Despite appearing to holding his head for a while on the ground after the hit, it seems Roethlisberger was always confident the knock was nothing to worry about, as he told reporters when asked how long it took him to realise he was okay.

“Pretty quick, I think the scary thing is the verbiage, concussion protocol. I think what a lot of people don’t realize, players included, that doesn’t mean you have a concussion. You go into a protocol system to get tested for a concussion. Right away no symptoms. I took thee test when I got back to the facility, then when we got back here and everything came back perfect. I think everyone, because of the reporting and lack of knowledge, assumed I had a concussion but I never did. That was the good thing.”

“Hopefully the hardest hit I take all year is from Gilbert and then we can laugh about it at the end of the year.”

With the coaching staff keen to give their younger quarterbacks as much playing time as possible, it would not be a surprise to see Roethlisberger’s snaps severely limited on Saturday, but he is just looking forward to getting back onto the field with his teammates.

“I am excited to get out there. I am sure there will be some jitters and rust. It will be good to get out there with the guys.”

That being said, it does not sound like Roethlisberger is asking for that many snaps if everything is clicking on offense.

“Obviously, that would be ideal to just get out there. I think usually the amount of plays determines how we do series-wise, are you going three-and-out, are you sustaining drives, stuff like that. Obviously, this is the first time we all will be on the field at the same time, so it would be nice to put together a couple drives and then find a way to finish them off and stay healthy.”

Tomlin is due to speak with the media at the end of practice on Tuesday and once he has revealed his plans for the quarterback rotation against Tennessee, we will sure to bring you that news.