Ben Roethlisberger

Ben Roethlisberger active, will start vs. Ravens

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Pittsburgh Steelers have announced that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will both play and start against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

Pittsburgh was hoping throughout the week that Roethlisberger would be able to play against its more heated rival this weekend. As it turns out, Big Ben is ready for the challenge.

Roethlisberger will be active and starting against the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium, giving the 4-3 Steelers a huge boost. With his return, the immortal Landry Jones goes back to the bench. The Steelers have lost two straight, dating back to their surprising loss in Miami. Roethlisberger sustained a torn meniscus in that game, despite playing through the pain in the second half.

Despite the injury recovery window being 2-6 weeks, Roethlisberger was expected to miss closer to a month. However, he was only sidelined for two weeks, with one fo them being the bye. Pittsburgh is still in first place of the AFC North, but a loss today would drop it into second behind the Ravens.

Should the Steelers win, they would enjoy a large cushion over both Baltimore and the 3-4-1 Cincinnati Bengals, who are idle on Sunday. Pittsburgh still has four divisional games remaining on the schedule, along with the Dallas cowboys next week and a Thanksgiving night showdown with the Indianapolis Colts.