Sorry kids, it’s been a busy week. Check out my Week 11 Injury Report over at FFLockerRoom.com for all the insights for the week. They also do a fantastic job of putting together weekly rankings and analyzing add/drop trends. Click the link below for all the details. Be back next week with a weekend recap and to get you ready for a Thanksgiving Thursday chalk full of games!
http://fflockerroom.com/2012/11/17/fantasy-football-week-11-injury-report/
Ben Roethlisberger injured his right shoulder during the Monday Night game against the Chiefs early in the 4th quarter (unless you’re under a rock, you probably already knew this, but you could have also had your cell phone under said rock, so you probably knew anyways), leaving the game immediately. I’ve seen many reports saying that he suffered a separated shoulder, sprained shoulder, and a separated sprained shoulder (made that last one up). But in actuality, those two things could be one in the same, as a separated shoulder is actually a sprained AC joint (just above the shoulder joint itself).
Watching a replay of the play that knocked Big Ben out, it didn’t look very typical of a sprained AC joint, which typically happens when someone lands directly on the shoulder. He landed square on his elbow, which caused the humerus (upper arm bone) to ram into the glenoid fossa (socket of the shoulder ball and socket joint). To me, this looks more like a mechanism that could cause a posterior subluxation/dislocation of the shoulder joint, which could lead to sprains of the ligaments that hold the actual should joint itself together. It could also cause a bone bruise to the socket itself if the head of the humerus (ball of the ball and socket joint) forcefully approximated (closing of the joint space).
The most peculiar part of this whole story is that Big Ben had an MRI the same night as the injury. Typically, this doesn’t happen unless something fishy is going on, as he had an X-Ray done at the stadium. As we all know, X-Rays only give information on bone and joint, nothing about soft tissue (muscle, tendon, ligament). So the fact that he had an MRI could have meant that (a) nothing was going on structurally in terms of a fracture, so they had to garner more information about the injury or (b) there’s some sort of fracture going on and they need to see what other structures are involved. The second scenario is obviously much more serious, but both don’t lend themselves to a short timeline.
Fantasy Effect: Obviously, we’ll wait until the MRI results come out and then determine what his prognosis is. Based no how the injury the looked, the MRI the same night, and his starting this season with a rotator cuff injury, I’d say he’s not playing at least this week. I wouldn’t recommend Byron Leftwich, but it makes the Steelers’ running backs much more enticing because of how much they’ll lean on the running game. Check back with me after more information makes itself available.
UPDATE (11/13/12 10:20am): Word is he has been diagnosed with a sprained shoulder and sprained Sternoclavicular (SC) joint. The sprained shoulder joint means he sprained the ligaments surrounding the shoulder joint itself (the ball and socket joint), which can cause instability with movements such as overhead motions and reaching back behind you. In addition, he is also reported to have sprained his SC joint, which is where the collar bone (clavicle) and chest bone (sternum) come together. This joint is also very involved (although not to the same extent) in overhead motions and reaching back behind you, which can be very limiting for someone who repetitively performs these motions every day.
So what does this mean? Without knowing the severity of the ligament sprains, it’s hard to say for sure. I’d tell you that he’s more than likely out this week, with the potential for this to be a 2-3 week type thing. The lack of stability from the ligament sprains greatly effect the throwing motion, specifically the wind up and cocking phases (just before the arm begins to come forward). This is where the power is transferred from your legs/hips/trunk to the shoulder to help zip the ball to a receiver. Without that stability, the task becomes that much harder. We’ll know more as the week goes on, but I don’t think there’s a chance he plays this week, unless insists on being out there. Either way, I’m not playing him against the Ravens.
Ziad Dahdul 