Ben Roethlisberger Injury: Update on Steelers Star's Ankle Injury

One of the best traits of Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is his ability to shake defenders and keep a play alive.

He was doing just that in the second quarter on Thursday night against the Cleveland Browns when he was sandwiched between two Browns defenders and one of them landed directly on his left ankle as the other contorted his body in the other direction. The human body isn’t supposed to twist and turn like that.

It wasn’t pretty.

NFL Network reporter Alex Flanagan reported that an X-ray on his ankle came back negative. The early speculation is a high ankle sprain.

UPDATE 10:15 EST: Some how Roethlisberger limped onto the field to start the second half. He's in severe pain just handing the ball off to his running backs. He is unable to step into his throws.

Who’s The Backup?

Charlie Batch went in to replace him as Roethlisberger, who went straight to the locker room. He’s officially out for the game. The NFL Network cameras caught video of him limping around in the locker room to get on a cart with a lot of pain etched across his face.

Batch went 0-2 to finish the first half.

Fantasy Impact

This is devastating to everybody on the Steelers.

It’s too early to speculate how long the injury will keep Roethlisberger out, but it looks as if he will miss a minimum of one game…possibly the season.

That means anybody who owns Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders must quickly find replacements while Rashard Mendenhall owners dance with joy.

If you were an unlucky sap that started Big Ben in the first week of the playoffs…I feel for you.

Devastation Scale

This is the difference between a Super Bowl and a first-round flame out. I don’t care how much experience Batch has, there is no way he can be successful in the postseason with that offensive line.

If Big Ben is out for the year, you can kiss the season goodbye in Pittsburgh. It all depends how serve the high ankle sprain really is.

What They’re Saying

Michael Fabiano of NFL.com echoes the sentiment that most people felt after watching the injury:

Fellow NFL.com insider Jason LaConfora admits that despite the incredible toughness of Big Ben, even Roethlisberger can’t overcome this: