K Train

LATROBE, Pa. (Aug. 16, 2006) -- Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger left practice early with an injury to the thumb on his throwing hand.

"I think he hit his thumb, on the next-to-last play he was in there, on a shoulder pad," coach Bill Cowher said after practice at St. Vincent College. "He's upstairs (in the team's facilities), so we'll look at that, assess it, and I'll probably have more information tomorrow."

The injury occurred about 10 minutes before the end of the team's second workout of the day. The third-year quarterback had looked sharp throughout the practice.

Roethlisberger did not speak with reporters as he left the field, his hand wrapped in ice. Cowher, however, did not sound as though he believed the injury was serious.

"He looked fine," Cowher said.

Roethlisberger was on the official injury report through the last five games of the 2005 regular season and was listed as "probable" in the playoffs with a right thumb injury. After last season, Roethlisberger said he had played the latter part of the year with a broken thumb.

Late in the 2004 season and during the playoffs that followed, Roethlisberger started wearing a glove on his throwing hand during games, sparking speculation that his thumb was injured. Both he and Cowher downplayed such talk at the time.

Cowher said he does not believe that Roethlisberger's hand or thumb problems are chronic or the result of arthritis.
http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/PIT/9604796

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J E T S JETS

The fact that this nagged him all year last year could be a HUGE problem again for this team. If recovering from a near death situation wasn't enough...

Btw, who's playing FS now that Chris Hope is gone? Hope did an excellent job of protecting the deep part of the field, allowing Polamalu to be the playmaker that he is, so hopefully someone can get in there or he'll have to be more restricted like Roy Williams.

K Train

Ryan Clark who did the same thing for Sean Taylor in Wash. Tyrone Carter already knows the offense so he will play to. But they drafted Anthony smith from syracuse, and hes gonna be a stud.

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Blitzburgh Steelers

That is really bad news if he's going to be having the same thumb issues as last year. He couldn't get hte long ball out there, and threw some bad balls due to it.

Our FS is in competition between Ryan Clark and Tyrone Carter...with the rookie Anthony Smith in there but most likely not a starter.

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J E T S JETS

Well Sean Taylor played a playmaker role as a pass defender, so it's a much different situation then Polamalu who plays up in the box and moves around a lot. He'll be fine, though.

Blitzburgh Steelers

I think he meant that Clark was used to covering for a free-lancing type S

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PoppaPoe33

Despite the thumb, Ben looked great in his series this past weekend. People start tripping about the thumb, but remember that he's one of the tough QB's in the league and can overcome such obstacles. Plus the reciever core looks promising, even the rooks.

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Blitzburgh Steelers

You also gotta remember that thumb arguably cost us some games last year, and the division. We all know he's tough and takes some vicious hits, but he does get injured, and even if he plays with the injuries, it affects his play and limits his effectiveness big time. He threw most of his INTs while playing with an injured thumb in that one game last year.....4 of 9 INTs in one game right?

The most important part is how bad we are without Ben in at QB. That's why people get scared. (Myself included)

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K Train

Agreed that the cincy game was awful, but that was his first game with a broken thumb and he didnt have "the glove". I would consider that his lucky injured thumb. He looked fantastic on saturday and i would expect to see the same at the annual eagles game this week.

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FatBear

Ben injured again, what else is new? Since that motorcycle injuy he has been getting injured ever since. Motorcycle injury, thumb injury, and his a appendectomy surgery; what next?

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