Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will undergo surgery Monday morning to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, as was first reported by Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. There is no timetable for Roethlisberger’s return.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, doctors expect the surgery to just be a clean-up of Roethlisberger’s meniscus and not a full repair, which could very well mean a quicker recovery time.
Roethlisberger injured his knee in the second quarter of Sunday’s 30-15 loss to the Miami Dolphins. The 34-year-old quarterback was nicked on the ankle from behind on a rollout before throwing an interception. He then limped off the field and was helped into the locker room, where he had X-rays on his knee. Roethlisberger then returned to the game in the third quarter.
After returning, Roethlisberger threw for 148 yards and one touchdown, had one pick on a pass intended for Sammie Coates and had 10 incompletions.
When Roethlisberger was unable to play, the Steelers used backup quarterback Landry Jones, who threw just one pass (which was incomplete) on his lone drive. Pittsburgh will rely on Jones in next Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots.
The 27-year-old Jones was drafted by the Steelers in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He saw his first career action in 2015, when Roethlisberger missed time with yet another injury. That season, Jones saw action in seven games — starting two — completed 32 of 55 passes and threw for 513 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions. He had a 77.3 quarterback rating.
The good news for Pittsburgh is that the team has its bye week after the game against the Patriots, which means Roethlisberger could, theoretically, return for the Steelers’ November 6 game against the Baltimore Ravens.
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