Ben Roethlisberger

Give credit to Big Ben for self-reporting possible concussion

Published Nov. 30, 2015 1:23 p.m. ET

Mike Garafolo

The Pittsburgh Steelers made a point of letting the public know Ben Roethlisberger self-reported his possible concussion on Sunday late in the fourth quarter.

Good for them. And good for him.

Roethlisberger has battled through knee and foot injuries this season, so another medical evaluation was surely the last thing he wanted to go through. But he recognized toughing out a brain injury is much different than dealing with pain elsewhere in the body.

What's unclear is how long Roethlisberger, who may not have experienced a concussion, was experiencing symptoms. He took a hit earlier in the fourth quarter. He didn't address the media after the game, as per the NFL policy on concussed players. If he knew he was injured earlier and waited until the game was out of reach to report it, that's obviously less commendable.

But entering the concussion protocol, period, puts him in jeopardy for next week's game. Keeping any symptoms to himself might have been a quicker way back onto the field.

But it would've been a potentially dangerous one. Give Roethlisberger credit for recognizing that.

--This excerpt originally appeared in Mike Garafolo's Six Points column for Week 12.

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