Steely McBeam
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- Mar 20, 2019
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Ben Roethlisberger has dealt with elbow pain “for years,” but this was different. The Steelers quarterback knew something was wrong with his right elbow on a deep ball to JuJu Smith-Schuster in Week Two against Seattle.
Roethlisberger spoke Tuesday for the first time since his season-ending injury.
“I really felt a different pain and different discomfort than I ever felt,” Roethlisberger said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “It was shooting down my arm, and so I knew something was different at that moment.”
Roethlisberger underwent surgery to reattach three torn flexor tendons.
“They sew through the tendon, and they reattach it to an anchor in your elbow,” Roethlisberger said. “As far as I am aware, it’s happened to just kind of everyday people on the street, if you will.
“From what I’ve been told, it’s never happened to a quarterback of this magnitude. I believe there was at least another quarterback that had one, maybe two torn off, but from what I understand, not three.”
Actually, former Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme had Tommy John surgery in 2007 to repair the ulnar collateral ligament and reattach all five tendons. Delhomme returned to start all 16 games in 2008.
Roethlisberger threw Monday, half as much Tuesday and will take Wednesday off.
“My arm feels really, really good,” Roethlisberger said. “We’ve been working more than usual in the offseason in terms of throwing. I’ve put together a regime of two to three days per week of throwing for the last probably two months, if not longer than that. I think the plan is to kind of pitch-count, if you will, through training camp.”
He gained a new perspective watching the offense from the sideline last season and lost weight during the offseason. Now, he is ready to return to doing what he does best.