Source: Steelers fined for Big Ben injury silence
The Steelers and coach Mike Tomlin were fined a combined $100,000 for not listing Ben Roethlisberger’s elbow ailment on the team’s…
PITTSBURGH — The Steelers have been fined $75,000 and coach Mike Tomlin has been fined $25,000 for violating the NFL’s Injury Report Policy, a league source confirmed.
The team did not accurately list quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on the practice report prior to the team’s Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks, the league found. He was only listed on the report that week as not practicing Wednesday for reasons that were “not injury related.” The Steelers typically gave Roethlisberger that day off. He fully practiced Thursday and Friday.
Roethlisberger exited the Seahawks game before halftime with a non-contact elbow injury and subsequently had season-ending elbow surgery.
The week after Roethlisberger’s injury, some of his teammates told reporters they had heard of the quarterback dealing with some elbow issues prior to the game.
“Really the first I heard of it was this past week,” quarterback Mason Rudolph said then. “I guess right after the New England game, expressing some pain, but that was the first I have heard. You’d have to ask him or Coach Tomlin if it was preexisting before that, but I have no clue.”
Center Maurkice Pouncey also told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that Roethlisberger had been dealing with elbow soreness “for the last few years.”
NFL Network was first to report the fines.
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