We understand gamesmanship, but this is sort of ridiculous.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are in Baltimore to take on the Ravens at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, and a few hours before kickoff, neither team is making a public decision on the availability of key players, Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger and Baltimore’s Steve Smith Sr.
Roethlisberger had surgery to repair a torn meniscus after a Week 7 loss to the Dolphins. Smith has missed the Ravens’ last two games due to an ankle injury sustained against the Redskins Oct. 9.
Both players practiced this week. Neither team has adequate depth to replace them. The fact they practiced — on a limited basis for Roethlisberger but Smith practiced fully Friday — suggests both teams have a plan to play each respective player.
Of course, similar sentiment was reflected last year about Roethlisberger leading into Pittsburgh’s Week 10 game against the Cleveland Browns. For only the fourth time in his career, Roethlisberger was active but did not start. Landry Jones was injured seven plays into the game, forcing No. 7 off the bench and in the game.
Roethlisberger set an NFL record for passing yards coming off the bench and earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors with a 379-yard performance in Pittsburgh’s win over the Browns.
These aren’t the Browns, however. Baltimore, despite a 3-4 start to the season (which includes their current four-game losing streak), has one of the better defenses in the game.
What they don’t do much of, though, is score, hence the need for Smith.
Pardon us for pointing out the possibility these game-time decisions are more reserving the right to sit a player if they happened to experience some kind of setback overnight. We might even suggest there’s a nefarious purpose behind the lack of decision — neither the Steelers nor the Ravens have anything to gain by mentioning whether those players will play.
We’ll find out for sure probably a few minutes before kickoff, but don’t expect street clothes to be adorned by either player.
