When Ben Roethlisberger decided to sit out a big game against the Ravens because of the lingering effects of a concussion, Hines Ward said there was a split in the Steelers’ locker room over it.
Ward and Roethlisberger both made some conciliatory comments afterward, and it seemed that they had buried the hatchet. But the situation may not be resolved after all.
John Czarnecki of FoxSports.com reports that there is still a real split in the Steelers’ locker room about Roethlisberger and whether or not he could have played against Baltimore.
According to Czarnecki, some Steelers think Ward was right, and that Roethlisberger was “over-dramatizing his headaches.”
That’s a serious issue, both for the Steelers as a team and for the NFL as a whole. If there really is a large contingent of players in the Steelers’ locker room that thinks Roethlisberger didn’t step up when he could have for a crucial game, then the Steelers have a big problem.
And if players around the league think that saying they have a headache will cause their teammates to question their toughness, the league’s increased emphasis on monitoring concussions may be hampered by players increasingly lying about their symptoms.
