Posted on 04/21/2010 8:43:48 AM PDT by wardaddy
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be suspended for four to six games on Wednesday for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy, according to multiple sources.
Backup Plan
The Steelers are 5-5 in games not started by Ben Roethlisberger since 2004.
Steelers starting QBs besides Roethlisberger since '04: QB Record Charlie Batch 3-1 Tommy Maddox 2-3 Dennis Dixon 0-1
When the suspension is announced, it will contain conditions that will allow it to be reduced based on Roethlisberger's behavior and compliance with clinical evaluators.
Commissioner Roger Goodell's verdict will reinforce a message that NFL employees will be held to a higher standard than the law.
Steelers employees were bracing Tuesday night for what they suspected would be an eight-game suspension, but two sources said it would not be eight games.
On Tuesday, the Steelers traded a seventh-round pick in this week's NFL draft to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for quarterback Byron Leftwich, adding depth to the position in anticipation of a possible Roethlisberger suspension.
Leftwich backed up Roethlisberger in 2008, when the Steelers won the Super Bowl. He knows offensive coordinator Bruce Arians' system and could be ready to play Sept. 12 when the Steelers open against the Atlanta Falcons.
The Steelers play three teams that didn't make the playoffs this past season -- the Falcons, Bucs and Tennessee Titans -- plus the division rival Baltimore Ravens in their first four games, a period that could span any Roethlisberger suspension.
Pittsburgh hosts the Cleveland Browns in its fifth game and travels to Miami to face the Dolphins in its sixth game. The Steelers have a bye in Week 5.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
Too light.
ROTFLMAO.....right laughable....I have no idea over this guy's guilt or innocence but the second go-around did make it look worse than the first...however...we've had NFL players do much worse and not get diddly.
So why this cat?
Ben can use the time off to stay in shape. He and his posse can go to sports bars on Sunday and watch the game. Oh wait, that’s how some of his problems began....
the Steelers re-acquired Byron Leftwich from Tampa yesterday for a 7th. round draft pick. He filled in admirably when both Ben and Charlie were injured two years ago. Clearly they knew what was coming.
Is this from the alleged rape of the Univ. of Georgia co-ed?
Dennis Dixon should be given the shot. His “0-1 record” was on the road at Baltimore with less than a week’s notice of his participation. He’s the future anyway, especially if buying time to find an open receiver is now more at a premium in Pittsburgh than ever.
How good Lord thats all he needs is more free time on his hands
LOL! So if he dances like a dancing bear, they'll let him back in the show early.
I'll bet he blows that too. I see a go-go dancer with a bloody fat lip in his near future.
Ho would you know he’s guilty?
share with us....I’m ignorant truly.
it just seems odd to me he gets suspended after not even being charged and we’ve had other players charged and not punished by NFL till they were convicted.
Plaxico Burris...now in jail on gun charges which I think where a bit mean...but before that he was actually CHARGED for hitting his wife in plain view of witnesses and got a one game suspension. This guy gets 5 games and was never charged.
that is just one example
Ray Lewis was charged with murder and aggravated assault and then plead guilty to obstruction (nice dodge if you can get it right?...probably paid his homies) and was NEVER suspended...
so what is different about this guy other than the glaring obvious
We haven’t had people do worse and get nothing since Goodell took over, his first major acts as commish were handing out suspensions to players that couldn’t seem to step out of the house with law enforcement getting involved. Ben got 6 weeks worth of bad press, that’s why him.
Too light for what? What did this guy do to deserve any suspension? If you suspended pro athletes for whoring around there would be no NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL.
Mike Vick went to jail and got 2 games. Ben does no crime and gets 4-6 WTF? Should have been 2 games at the most if any at all.
You're right about what has happened in the past. But, Goodell has been tougher than past presidents, so perhaps this is just a continuation of the new standard he's trying to implement. Of course, when Goodell allowed Vick to return, that seemed like a business as usual maneuver.
What will be interesting is what will Roethlisberger do next. If he is a sexual predator, the likelihood of him raping or sexual assaulting another woman if significant. Sexual predators rarely stop preying of their own volition. That's just a matter of fact.
If he's not a sexual predator, then he may just have an alcohol and judgment problem. We will see if his behavior changes with this (should be) sobering moment.
he was never even charged...explain to me how that is alleged rape?
do freepers deal in fact and empirical observation or just hunches they would like to believe...yes I do too sometimes..lol
So now we have no coach AND no quarterback. Swell.
Pittsburgh and NFL say this is a new zero tolerance thing and this guy is first at bat...we shall see.
Vick got suspended “until further notice” in the pre-season that year, he didn’t actually report to jail until November so all that was suspension, plus the two games after he got out of jail. And in theory he was suspended during his jail time, it just didn’t matter.
No, I was just going by a very fuzzy memory of an incident I read about several months ago involving Ben and some co-ed from Georgia. What was the story behind it?
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