For a moment there, the collective heartbeat of Steelers Nation stopped on Wednesday when the news broke:

#Steelers say Ben Roethlisberger had scope on his right knee this morning. No long-term effects, team says. Right knee. Clean up.
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) June 5, 2013

This was after all the month of June. It involved surgery, and it involved Ben Roethlisberger.

But there is surgery and surgery, and the reports are that this was a simple procedure to clean up some cartilage. Roethlisberger had a similar procedure done during he 2005 season and only missed 2 games because of it.

• But with that said you never want to have someone go under the knife if it can be avoided.

Or do you?

About a year ago the Steelers faced a similar situation with James Harrison. Harrison knee was bothering him, and the Steelers and Harrison chose to let the knee heal on its own.

A respectable strategy, until the knee refused to heal, swelling continued, and Harrison had surgery in the middle of August. Not only did the surgery keep him out of the line up for the first few weeks of the season, but it wasn’t until mid season that Harrison regained full strength.

Clearly the Steelers are not going to burn their hands on the same pot twice.

June Curse Strikes Royally…

Mike Adams’s stabbing was of course enough to invoke the specter of the Steelers “June Curse,” Adams, however, was not its only victum.

The Steelers placed reserve cornerback Justin King on injured reserve, ending his season long before it had a chance to begin. No reason was given for the move, but the Steelers certainly did not make it lightly as King will cost them over $750,000 against the salary cap.

To take his place the Steelers signed cornerback Nigel Malone.

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