September 15, 2019, Ben Roethlisberger was injured against the Seahawks that cost him the rest of the season on IR. On Sept. 23 Dr. Neal performed surgery on Ben Roethlisberger repairing three of five flexor tendons. Throughout Ben Roethlisberger's rehabilitation, the Steelers stayed pretty quiet. The Steelers were very patient with his progress and allowed him the proper amount of time to fully heal. Colbert even acknowledged the biggest part of Ben's rehab would be to exercise patience. Ben skipped throwing a tennis ball and eventually went straight to throwing a football. Kevin Colbert says Ben avoided the 'Wear and Tear' last season by not playing football but acknowledged there will be rust.
“First of all, the wear and tear -- he didn’t play football,” Colbert said. “There’s a certain amount of rust that builds up, so you can look at it that way, as well, but physically, he didn’t play a season of NFL football.
“Physically, he should be better. The arm, who knows? His arm might be stronger coming out of this surgery. Again, you never know the extent of an injury when it happens. When it happens, it happens. But how long was it bothering him without him even knowing it? So right now, we know where it is, and we are optimistic that he might be better.”
This was the first injury Ben Roethlisberger has had in his 16-year career where he has missed 11 games. Mike Tomlin acknowledged on May 9th that Ben was in a throwing program for rehab and the program was going well.
"He's throwing on a rehab schedule, and it's going well, and we fully anticipate him being ready to go for that opener."
On May 18th, 2020 Steelers fans witnessed Ben Roethlisberger sharing a video on Twitter of him throwing a football for the first time. He had a huge beard in the video as he stated he was not shaving until he could throw the football with his teammates. That day he shaved his beard and began prepping for the 2020 Season. 11 months of rehab, throwing programs and uncertainty Ben Roethlisberger is finally back tonight clean-shaven and ready to play Football for his 17th Season. Will Ben Roethlisberger return to form? Only time will tell, but if anyone can do it the two-time Super Bowl Champion can.
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