“He has a high ankle sprain.”

Injury news of course gets much worse, but high ankle sprains appear almost to be a class into themselves. They’re not career threatening, nor (does it appear, yours truly has no medical expertise) does their long-term impact appear to be cumulative.

Nonetheless, high ankle sprains linger and linger.

As a fan it has always seemed that when a player suffers the dreaded “high ankle sprain” he’s effected by it for the rest of the year.

Fate would have it unfortunately that 2011 be the year that both Ben Roethlisberger and Maurkice Pouncey would offer “high ankle sprains.”

Both suffered them during the Thursday night game vs. Cleveland. Pouncey hasn’t played since, and after missing practice on Thursday might not play vs. Denver.

Ben Roethlisberger of course played in the next game vs. San Francisco, and in Steel Curtain Rising’s analysis, Roethlisberger had no business finishing that game after it became clear that injuries had drastically reduced his effectiveness.

At his weekly press conference Mike Tomlin said that Ben was fine, having suffered no further setbacks as a result of playing in the second victory vs. Cleveland.

Ben Roethlisberger told a different story, claiming that he had in fact hurt himself in the third quarter, and he missed practice on Wednesday but was back at it on Thursday.

Roethlisberger is some what of a drama queen when it comes to injuries, but Ed Bouchette noted on PG Plus that Roethlisberger looked hobbled in the locker room on Sunday after the game and he is expected to play.

The 2011 Steelers have over come a lot in terms of injuries, but suffice to say this is not the kind of news you want to read if your team’s about to play its first road playoff game in six years.

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