Steelers thumb saga goes on

The quarterback says the injury is bad, but Cowher won't talk about it.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Something Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher will never be found discussing these days: winning one for the thumb.
Lost amid the Steelers' late-season scramble to secure an AFC wild-card playoff spot is the curious by-play that has occurred every week since quarterback Ben Roethlisberger injured his right thumb Nov. 28 against the Colts.
Cowher dismisses all questions and discussion about the issue and has never disclosed the extent of Roethlisberger's injury, although he declines to allow anyone else to reveal Steelers injury information.
Cowher's dislike of the topic is so great he got into a mini-debate with a TV news reporter on the topic this week, interrupting his weekly news conference to address the subject.
"You've got to let that go, man," Cowher said. "Honestly, I'm not going to answer any more questions about that. Really, let go. Come on. Talk to him. I'm not going to answer questions about it."
A day later, Roethlisberger did exactly that, saying he would keep wearing a protective splint and glove on his right hand Sunday, even though the Steelers (8-5) play the Minnesota Vikings (8-5) in the indoor Metrodome.
"It will be warm and my hand will probably sweat a little bit, but we'll make it work," Roethlisberger said.
Cowher's reluctance to talk about the injury has created speculation Roethlisberger's thumb is broken, even if the crack is only tiny.
Injury pretty bad
Roethlisberger has offered up only that the injury is "pretty bad" and that he was given the option of having surgery that would have ended his season.
Instead, he plans to play the rest of the season with the splint and the glove, which he said affects his throwing only on deep passes.
The thumb apparently wasn't a problem as he completed 13 of 20 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown in a 21-9 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Another curious angle to the it-is-broken-or-isn't-it debate is that Roethlisberger had his most prolific passing game in the NFL the week after injuring the thumb, going 29-of-41 for 373 yards and three touchdowns against the Bengals on Dec. 4.
Wide receiver Hines Ward, who has caught three Roethlisberger-thrown TD passes the last two games, doesn't see much difference in the gloved Big Ben and the glove-less Big Ben.
"Ben threw for 300-some yards. Any problems he might have had, I think, had to do with planting his foot," Ward said.
Oh, that injury.
Repaired right knee
Ward was referring to Roethlisberger's surgically repaired right knee, which sidelined him for three games from Nov. 6-20. Roethlisberger also missed an Oct. 16 overtime loss to Jacksonville with an injured left knee, but has not missed any playing time because of the thumb.
The Steelers talked about filling their thumbs with a fifth Super Bowl ring after they won four Super Bowls in six seasons from 1974-79 -- the Joe Greene-inspired "One for the Thumb" ring.
Roethlisberger has been the Steelers' starting quarterback for less than two full seasons, yet this is his third injury flap.
After the Steelers' overtime playoff victory over the Jets in January, Roethlisberger and Cowher denied the quarterback injured -- you guessed it -- his right thumb. No injury was ever acknowledged, although Roethlisberger was seen shaking his hand in apparent pain on the sideline.
A week later, Roethlisberger revealed he broke a couple of toes in the Steelers' AFC championship game loss to the Patriots. Cowher quickly disputed that, saying no toes were broken and his quarterback was referring to a college injury that he may have aggravated.