“I literally just got done with taking the test….I did go into the protocol, took the test today, I don’t know the actual results, I think they have to send them to a third party or another doctor to look at. They make the final determining factor but I felt good taking the test.” — Ben.
Excerpts from his appearance courtesy of 93.7 The Fan this morning:
Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger says he has played through a lot of injuries, but a brain injury is not something to mess with.
“I have played through many injuries but the brain is not an injury you want to play with,” Roethlisberger said.
Roethlisberger says he was diagnosed with a traumatic ocular migraine. He says he has just finished concussion protocol at the Steelers facility.
“I didn’t feel right, it doesn’t make you less of a man or a football player to come out of the game,” he said.
Ben said that his peripheral vision looked as if he was looking through water.
“It was a big hit, got the wind knocked out of me, and I was on the ground, Roethlisberger said. “I felt okay, just felt like it was a big hit.”
Roethlisberger said Dr. Maroon told him “Ben we can’t let you go back out there,” because vision problems could lead to not protecting himself.
“When you’re done you want to be a husband or father, and if I have these brain injuries it’s not worth it,” Roethlisberger said.
The Steelers are coming off a tough 39-30 loss at Seattle which really puts them in a tight spot for the playoffs.
It was also a tough ending for Ben who took a blow to the head late in the 4th quarter which kept him from finishing the game.
“I switched helmets 7 or 8 years ago, and haven’t had a concussion since I switched helmets. I’m so glad I did that.”
Ben also talked about Tomlin’s decision to kick the field goal in the 4th quarter rather than go for the touchdown, “he’s the head coach, he makes the decision, we ride with it.”
Ben was asked about the difference between settling for field goals instead of touchdowns in that situation and why it’s so important to find the end zone once you reach the red zone.
“It’s frustrating,” Ben said. “You get down there, you got to put seven points on the board when you’re playing a team like that in their place.”
Despite taking the loss, the offense remained red hot with point totals of 38, 30 and 30 over the last three games and Ben talked about how happy he is with where the offense is.
“We’re doing some good things,” Ben told us. “I thought DeAngelo Williams played a great game this past Sunday. I thought there was some key third downs that he converted in the passing game. I though he ran the ball well. I think guys are stepping up and playing well. Markus Wheaton I talked about. I thought the line played good, especially with the noise and that pass rush the Seahawks have. So yeah, we’re scoring points, we’re doing some good things, but we need to score one more point than the opponent, so moving forward we need to keep growing and keep getting better.”
Roethlisberger says he is anticipating that he will be able to play Sunday night against the Indianapolis Colts.
You can listen to his show here.
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