Ben Roethlisberger wants to play against Bruce Arians, his former play caller, and the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday.
Whether Pittsburgh Steelers doctors and coach Mike Tomlin will allow the quarterback to play remains to be seen, but he took a positive step on Wednesday.
Big Ben participated in 7-on-7 work in Wednesday's practice, per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.
Roethlisberger suffered an MCL sprain and a bone bruise in Week 3, which forced him to miss the past two Steelers contests.
The veteran quarterback said his throwing is fine, but he needs to display lateral ability before he can hit the field for game action.
Mike Vick has started the last two weeks and was mostly miserable. However, his final two touchdown drives in Monday night's last-second victory -- uncorking a long 72-yard touchdown pass and leading a game-winning score, which included two third-down pickups -- might give the Steelers' coaching staff a sliver of confidence that they have a bit more leash to play with if Ben can't go.
The restricted offense the Steelers have employed with Vick -- leaning almost entirely on Le'Veon Bell and a short, erratic passing attack -- won't work this week against the Arizona Cardinals. If Roethlisberger doesn't play, offensive coordinator Todd Haley will have to ask Vick to stretch the field with more regularity than the past two weeks to keep pace with the high-flying Cards.
We've seen Big Ben return from injuries time and time again prior to the standard recovery period. Roethlisberger is famous for playing though pain. If he gets medically cleared he'll likely play.
That's a gargantuan IF, but Wednesday was a positive start to the week.
