{"id":8498,"date":"2015-09-29T08:05:28","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T15:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/big-ben-out-with-sprained-left-knee\/"},"modified":"2015-09-29T08:05:28","modified_gmt":"2015-09-29T15:05:28","slug":"big-ben-out-with-sprained-left-knee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/big-ben-out-with-sprained-left-knee\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Ben out with sprained left knee"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH<\/strong> \u2014 Ben Roethlisberger gingerly made his way out of the Pittsburgh Steelers facility on Monday, his left leg immobilized under a brace and his attitude upbeat.<\/p>\n

The leader of one of the NFL\u2019s most dynamic offenses is expected back at some point in 2015 after spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in the third quarter of Sunday\u2019s 12-6 win over St Louis.<\/p>\n

What the rest of the season looks like whenever Roethlisberger returns will rely heavily on how much is left in Michael Vick\u2019s 35-year-old arm (and legs).<\/p>\n

Coach Mike Tomlin thinks Vick has plenty left.<\/p>\n

Vick will start for the Steelers (2-1) on Thursday night when they host Baltimore (0-3), a job Vick will hold indefinitely while Roethlisberger is out. Tomlin declined to put a timetable on when Roethlisberger will take the field next other than to say it will be \u201ca number of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roethlisberger fell awkwardly while getting tackled by St. Louis safety Mark Barron, the quarterback\u2019s left leg twisting gruesomely as he fell to the turf. An MRI revealed no major structural damage though Roethlisberger will miss multiple starts due to injury for only the second time in his 12-year career.<\/p>\n

Enter Vick, a four-time Pro Bowler signed in August who quickly earned the backup job. He completed 5 of 6 passes for 38 yards after Roethlisberger\u2019s exit, hardly the gamebreaking stuff of Vick\u2019s prime. Then again, he wasn\u2019t asked to do much other than avoid mistakes while the defense preserved a second-half lead.<\/p>\n

The challenge will change considerably at home against a winless rival, though Tomlin is hardly worried about Vick\u2019s ability to get prepared in the 100 hours in between games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t his first rodeo,\u201d Tomlin said.<\/p>\n

Maybe, but it will mark just Vick\u2019s fourth start in the last two years. His only victory in that span? A 20-13 upset of the Steelers last November while playing for the New York Jets. Vick will have considerably more weapons at his disposal in Pittsburgh with running back Le\u2019Veon Bell and wide receiver Antonio Brown.<\/p>\n

Just don\u2019t expect Vick to be given as much latitude as Roethlisberger, who has spent the last three-plus seasons working with offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Vick, by contrast, has been in town less than five weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to work in his comfort zone and bring the game to him and put us in position to win football games,\u201d Tomlin said.<\/p>\n

A half decade removed from his last truly special season \u2014 when he won the Comeback Player of the Year in 2010 while with Philadelphia \u2014 Vick is less gamechanger and more game manager. If Vick\u2019s job is to simply help Pittsburgh\u2019s two stars do theirs, that\u2019s fine by him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t put it all on my shoulders,\u201d Vick said. \u201cI\u2019ll take sole responsibility of everything that happens, but I\u2019m just going to prepare myself and get myself in the position to help this football team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The patented \u201cVick flick\u201d is still there. Vick\u2019s first pass during the preseason was a 63-yard rainbow to Martavis Bryant. There were no fireworks in St. Louis, though he did hit Bell with a pretty back shoulder throw that helped Pittsburgh flip the field.<\/p>\n

While Vick\u2019s arrival was met with a small din of protest \u2014 the lingering residue of Vick\u2019s time in federal prison stemming from his role in a dogfighting ring \u2014 he quickly ingratiated himself in one of the league\u2019s more stable locker rooms. His stall is right next to fellow backup Landry Jones and Vick has done his best to absorb whatever has been thrown his way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a leader and he\u2019s been doing it for a long time,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt\u2019s not only about him. We\u2019ve got to be able to help him, catching passes, got to be able to run the ball, protect the ball and help him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTES: Tomlin declined to take issue with Barron\u2019s hit on Roethlisberger, pointing to a letter coaches received from the league about being critical of officials. … LB Ryan Shazier (shoulder) could miss his second straight game. … LB James Harrison (thumb) and TE Matt Spaeth (fractured hand) will be evaluated later in the week.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http:\/\/twitter.com\/AP_NFL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 Ben Roethlisberger gingerly made his way out of the Pittsburgh Steelers facility on Monday, his left leg immobilized under a brace and his attitude upbeat. The leader of one of the NFL\u2019s most dynamic offenses is expected back at some point in 2015 after spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-8498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8498"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=8498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}