Ben Roethlisberger says elbow and knee “feel really good right now”

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Steelers Nation began the night anxious to see how their quarterback’s surgically repaired elbow would hold up in a game. They held their breath during the game after Ben Roethlisberger got up limping at the end of an 11-yard run.

All’s well that ends well.

The Steelers won; Roethlisberger looked like Roethlisberger in his first game in 364 days; and he got out of Monday night apparently no worse for wear.

Roethlisberger, 38, anticipates some soreness but more the good kind of soreness.

“I probably just grabbed my knee because I was moving so fast, but I feel great right now,” Roethlisberger said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “Obviously, adrenaline still pumping, and we won the game. I’m going to be sore tomorrow and might have some bumps and bruises, but in terms of elbow and everything else, I feel really good right now.”

Roethlisberger, who injured his elbow in Week Two of last season, wore a jacket sleeve over the elbow on the sideline Monday night. He said it was to keep his elbow warm, like what baseball pitchers do in the dugout.

He completed 21 of 32 passes for 229 yards and three touchdowns. He now has a franchise-record 366 career touchdown passes, tying Eli Manning for eighth-most in NFL history.

Roethlisberger, though, felt more like a rookie at the start of the game.

“There obviously were a little bit of jitters. I was excited and nervous to be out there,” Roethlisberger said. “I just wanted to not let my guys down, that was the biggest thing.”