Big Ben recently was interviewed by ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit and he really opened up about his elbow surgery and the process he went through.
Roethlisberger says, "I'm excited to play, the elbow feels really good. I'm excited to go out there and test it in a game situation. That's the one last hurdle is what it's like to get hit again and what it's like to throw in a game situation."
Herbstreit asked Ben, "What do you remember about the last play before you were injured."
"It actually was the week before at New England warming up I just felt discomfort which I have felt many times. Usually through adrenaline and getting warmed up it goes away and it never really kind of left so I did't really think much of it and you go into the week of preparation of Seattle and you go out there and it feels ok, but it doesn't feel alright and at the end of that half I remember one throw I just felt a lot different. Different then it ever felt before and once again just kind of shake it off and keep going and I threw a deep one down the right sideline to JuJu and that one was a big deal. It felt off and it felt wrong. It hurt a lot more than it ever have and it just you know your body, you just feel different things and I felt something different. I had to throw one more pass to get out of the series. Luckily it was a short one and I just went to the sideline knowing something wasn't right."
Herbstreit then asked, "When you realized the magnitude and visited with the doctors you had basically two options either don't have surgery and retire or have the surgery and have a long proccess back. Talk about how you and your wife and support group about what you guys went through to come to your decision."
"It was a tough phone call to get from from Dr. Bradley laying out two options and you don't have to do anything and retire and not play football again. I could probably play catch with the kids in the backyard, but I will never be an NFL Quarterback throwing balls again or I can go and have surgery and I'm going to miss the year and most likely will be able to come back. They never really had this happen before so they weren't really sure, but I get to play again. I thought about it for 30 seconds or so and my wife thought about it a little longer and I said 'let's go.' I felt like I was never done. I felt like I have more to give to this game and this city. I still want to win trophies for this city (Pittsburgh). I just felt like I could do it."
Ben Roethlisberger returns tonight for his first NFL game in 364 days. It only took him 30 seconds to decide he was going to have elbow surgery and attempt to come back. It is music to our ears to hear Big Ben say he still has a lot left to give to this game. He felt like he wasn't done and wants to win trophies for Pittsburgh.
Comments