Benjamin Franklin once said nothing in the world is certain except death and taxes – maybe he should have included the Pittsburgh Steelers losing a key player to injury to that list, writes Freebetsmate.com Gary Anderson.
Pittsburgh’s quest to win a record-setting seventh Super Bowl was derailed by a string of injuries during the 2015 season, and there will be a sense of déjà vu in the Steelers camp this week after it was confirmed starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee during the 30-15 defeat to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
The 34-year-old was forced off the field in the second quarter after hyper-extending his knee while throwing an interception, and although he did return to the game in the second half he was clearly struggling as the Steelers saw their sequence of back-to-back wins come to a shuddering halt.
“It happened before I threw,” he said afterwards. “I felt something funny in my knee.” Reporters went on to ask Roethlisberger about his mobility during the second half of the game and the veteran signal-caller joked that he is “not that mobile anymore anyway”. Nobody is in the mood for jokes now following reports he could face a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
According to CBS Pittsburgh, Roethlisberger has suffered a torn meniscus and Pittsburgh have not scheduled in a timetable for his return. A minor operation could see him return to action fairly quickly, with an upcoming bye week helping the cause, but if it is more serious the Steelers may have just seen their chances of winning Super Bowl LI go up in smoke due to injuries – again.
The bookmakers certainly feel Pittsburgh’s Super Bowl chances have been left black & blue, just like Roethlisberger’s knee. They are now as big as 12/1 to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy in Houston with some leading firms, whole they have also drifted to 5/1 to win the AFC Championship this season, although they do remain second favourites behind the New England Patriots.
However, if the extent of Roethlisberger’s injury turns out to be serious, those prices could soon get a whole lot bigger with the Steelers left to start Landry Jones at quarterback. That is a huge drop-off in talent and ability to run this offense, and the schedule is not particularly kind to Pittsburgh over the next few weeks with games against the New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys hardly ideal when you are trying to get a backup QB up to speed.
For now Pittsburgh will play the waiting game and head coach Mike Tomlin will be desperately a repeat of 2015 is not on the cards.