Nov 3, 2005 By Jim Wexell For The 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – Same player. Same injury questions. Different week. This time, Ben Roethlisberger feels better, but that doesn’t mean he’ll play Sunday in Green Bay. Yesterday, the Pittsburgh Steelers listed him as questionable.

“It’ll come down to a coach’s decision, how I feel, and what the doctors say,” said Roethlisberger, who went through the same routine three weeks ago after he came out of a Monday night game in San Diego with an injured left knee.

“I was on crutches, so obviously I was a little bit worse,” he said. “It’s just a little sore thing, but we’ll get better.”

Roethlisberger underwent an MRI examination Tuesday morning on his injured right knee. When asked about the results, he deferred to his coach, but Bill Cowher didn’t talk to reporters on Wednesday. He’d said on Tuesday that “the initial diagnosis says it is a posterior capsular strain. All the ligaments are fine.” A team spokesman said there was no additional news to report.

Roethlisberger wants to play Sunday and will see how the knee feels at the end of the week.

“It’s a committee decision,” he said. “But obviously the final decision comes from coach Cowher.”

Three weeks ago, Roethlisberger hyper-extended his left knee during the final series against the San Diego Chargers. He didn’t practice all week, but begged Cowher to let him play the following Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Cowher instead started Tommy Maddox and designated Roethlisberger as the team’s third-team emergency quarterback.

Roethlisberger started the two games since, and played most of Monday night’s game against Baltimore with the injured right knee. Roethlisberger sustained the injury on the first series of the game. After throwing a 5-yard pass to Antwaan Randle El, Baltimore defensive end Jarret Johnson hit Roethlisberger, who came up limping. On fourth down he ran a quarterback sneak for a first down. Four plays later, he threw a touchdown pass to Heath Miller and went to the sideline to don a brace.

“Everyone that watched the game and knows how I play could tell there was something on my knee,” Roethlisberger said. “I didn’t feel as mobile. We took it off at halftime and taped it and it felt a lot better. If I can go without a brace, I’m going to do it.”

Also at halftime, Roethlisberger hinted to Cowher that he may not be able to finish the game.

“I told him at halftime, coach, I’m going to let you know if I feel I’m hurting this team, I’m going to let you know because that’s the last thing I want to do is hurt this team. If I can’t go out there and play to the best of my ability and help this team, I’m going to have to tell him I can’t do it.”

Roethlisberger finished the game and directed the Steelers to a 20-19 win with a 60-yard game-winning field goal drive late in the fourth quarter. He completed 18 of a career-high 30 pass attempts for 177 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He was sacked twice.

Roethlisberger was asked if the recent injuries have caused him to worry about the future.

“You always worry about the future when it comes to injuries,” he said. “But for me you only live one day at a time and always try and do everything you can to help the team because my thought is this year.

“I understand that everyone always worries about longevity and a long career and this and that, but I’m living for this year right now. So, no, we’ll see what we can do for this year.”

If Roethlisberger doesn’t play, Charlie Batch will make his first NFL start since 2001 when he played for the Detroit Lions.

“Everything will depend on how Ben comes back,” Batch said. “He’s walking around pretty good right now.

“He’s young. He has those young bones and he’s able to recover a lot quicker than others.”