Ben Roethlisberger’s status for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 10 remains up in the air.
There is a chance Ben Roethlisberger may not play Sunday for the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the Cincinnati Bengals. Roethlisberger was placed on the Reserve/COVID list on Monday due to contact tracing. He tested negative for the virus on Tuesday. If Roethlisberger continues to test negative, he will get the start for the Steelers vs. the Bengals. Should you start him in fantasy?
The Fantasy Footballers are optimistic about Roethlisberger’s chances of playing on Sunday. A similar thing happened to Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions last week. He was able to return to action vs. the division rival Minnesota Vikings after being cleared to play on Saturday. However, he did not play well and had to exit the game due to concussion protocol. So what about Big Ben?
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Roethlisberger is also dealing with injuries entering Week 10 of the 2020 NFL season. He had to briefly leave last week’s game vs. the Dallas Cowboys because of a knee injury. His backup Mason Rudolph had to play the final offensive series before halftime, which was not great. However, Roethlisberger was able to take advantage of one of the worst teams in football in the Cowboys.
Ben Roethlisberger is coming off one of his better games this fantasy season
In Week 9, Roethlisberger competed 29-of-42 passes for 306 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Keep in mind he played 94 percent of the team’s offensive snaps due to injury. This performance of his tied for his second most in completions, his second most in yards and tied his best in touchdowns on the season. The question is if he will play like that again vs. Cincinnati.
The Bengals are coming off their annual bye week, so they will be well-rested for the AFC North rivalry game. Because the Steelers are the considerably better team in the division this year, they might blow out the Bengals early and go to a ball-control offensive approach in the latter stages. Of course, we could see another Mike Tomlin special of playing down to their opponent’s level.
So if Roethlisberger is healthy enough to play on Sunday, should you start him as your QB1? Let’s side with no for the sake of simplicity. Pittsburgh will get Cincinnati’s best game. Roethlisberger hurt his knee last week and will not be practicing heading into this game. Given that he has only thrown for 300 yards twice in eight games, we may see a bit of a downtick from him in the victory.