When rules were tightened up to reduce high hits, many players complained that it would result in defenders diving at their knees.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger apparently values another part of his body slightly more.
After self-reporting concussion symptoms during last week’s game and taking himself off the field, Roethlisberger said today on his weekly radio show on 93.7 The Fan that “I’ll play through any injury but brain.”
“I feel like I made the right [decision],” he said, via Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I think more guys should do it.”
Roethlisberger said he thinks he’s cleared the concussion test he took this morning, saying it was more of a migraine. During the game, he told team doctors that his peripheral vision wasn’t normal, and that’s when they shut him down for the day. But he said those symptoms went away shortly after the game.
Roethlisberger has played through a number of injuries, often coming back well before he should. And while it’s certainly easier for a star with financial and positional security to raise his hand and ask out of a game, perhaps his being willing to do so will help others take the necessary steps for self-preservation.