After Sunday’s walk-through, Ben Roethlisberger expected to play Monday

Pittsburgh Steelers fans were holding their collective breath on Saturday when quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was listed as questionable for Monday’s game against the Washington Football Team. Roethlisberger did not practice on Friday or Saturday after playing against the Baltimore Ravens Wednesday. Due to not practicing, Roethlisberger had an injury status although his absence from practice was listed as “not injury related/knee.” Many were wondering how questionable it was if Roethlisberger would play Monday at 5 PM.

On Sunday, it appears Steelers’ fans could now exhale as Roethlisberger is expected to play per Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Week 13 will not be the first time in 2020 where Roethlisberger will play in a game where his only participation that week was the walk-through. In Week 10, Ben Roethlisberger was deemed a close contact to Vance McDonald after he tested positive for COVID-19 and was subsequently put on the Reserve/COVID-19 List. Roethlisberger came off the list in time to have an extended walk-through on Saturday before the Steelers’ Sunday game against the Cincinnati Bengals. In the game, Roethlisberger threw for 333 yards and four touchdowns.

After playing a game with no practice, Roethlisberger joked about talking to Coach Tomlin about his practice participation in the future since he did so well with so much rest. Roethlisberger was coming off of the game against the Dallas Cowboys in which he injured both knees and missed a series just before halftime. Coach Tomlin responded by saying it was a short conversation.

For Week 13, the circumstances are completely different. Roethlisberger usually does not take the field for the Steelers until Thursday when following a Sunday game. With the Steelers playing on Wednesday, Sunday would be the expected return for Roethlisberger if operating on normal rest. With another game looming six days later in the Week 14, it appears the Steelers decided to keep the same timeline when it comes to Roethlisberger in order to give him as much rest as possible.

Of course, Roethlisberger still officially has a questionable status for Monday, so anything is possible. But for now, it appears the likelihood of Roethlisberger missing the game is extremely low in the eyes of the Steelers.

Stay tuned to BTSC for continued coverage as the Steelers take on the Washington Football Team on Monday at 5 PM.