Steelers hope for the best while Roethlisberger sits

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

The Pittsburgh Steelers will get one last glimpse of Ben Roethlisberger playing quarterback before he begins his NFL-mandated suspension.

They can only wonder what kind of shape they’ll be in when Roethlisberger returns to the field in October.

While the starters usually play only a couple of series in the final exhibition game, Roethlisberger is lobbying to take snaps in the no-huddle offense tonight against Carolina. New center Maurkice Pouncey and right tackle Flozell Adams haven’t worked with Roethlisberger out of that formation except during practice, and the quarterback doesn’t want to wait until the games count before getting in the work.

Especially since Roethlisberger will miss at least four of those games.

“We have new guys, so I think it will be good if we can hopefully get it in and do that,” Roethlisberger said.

Roethlisberger’s brief time under center will come only a few hours before he travels to New York on Friday to meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. There is every indication Goodell will shorten the quarterback’s suspension for bad behavior from six to four games, but the Steelers are taking a low-key approach and aren’t publicly lobbying on Roethlisberger’s behalf.

The Steelers were encouraged last month when Goodell said Roethlisberger was going “above and beyond” what the league has asked him to do since he was accused of, but not charged with, sexually assaulting a Georgia college student. The quarterback has stayed out of trouble since the March incident, and he spent considerable time during training camp interacting with the team’s fans.

The big question, of course, is what the Steelers will do without their $102 million quarterback. They open at home against Atlanta on Sept. 12, then play Tennessee and Tampa Bay on the road and Baltimore at home. It’s a challenging schedule, but not exceedingly demanding for a team that started 6-2 each of the last two seasons.

For now, coach Mike Tomlin hasn’t officially named Byron Leftwich as his season-opening starter, although that has been seen as a mere formality since Leftwich returned to Pittsburgh in an April trade.