Ben Roethlisberger’s wounded knee could bury Steelers

No NFL team wants to see the face of their franchise rolling around on the ground grabbing his knee. When you are the Pittsburgh Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger has already led you to two Super Bowl titles, and remains your best hope for another, it’s an especially disconcerting feeling.

There was Roethlisberger in the second half of the Steelers’ 12-6 victory at St Louis on Sunday, riding off the cart with his left knee stretched in an awkward position.

The Steelers’ quarterback is expected to be out four to six weeks, but it seems Roethlisberger did not suffer any damage to his ACL – which would’ve theoretically ended his season.

Nobody in Pittsburgh wanted to see the start of the Michael Vick era. The former Falcons and Eagles quarterback was decent, completing five of six passes for 38 yards, but the Steelers need Roethlisberger to return if they expect to make a post-season run.

But it was a strange day all around in St Louis. Two hours before Roethlisberger went down, a pre-game fireworks display went haywire and embers fell on the turf, setting it ablaze. Stadium workers quickly doused the fire and had to vacuum the ashes and fire retardant before the game could begin.

Trampled

Forget the scorched turf in St Louis, the Patriots once again seem to be on a scorched-earth mission. They trampled the Jacksonville Jaguars 51-17.

They are 3-0 in this year in which they were supposed to start the season without Tom Brady and have been dealing with constant allegations of cheating. So far they have outscored opponents 199-70, and Brady threw his 400th touchdown pass against the beleaguered Jaguars. The last time they played with such anger, blasting every team they played, was 2007 – the year they were caught videotaping Jets team signals in what became called ‘spygate’. That season they went 16-0.

The Cowboys are looking at about a month without their franchise quarterback Tony Romo. For a half on Sunday they looked just fine, especially with Joseph Randle tearing through the Falcons early on. But it doesn’t matter who is playing quarterback for Dallas if the Cowboys can’t stop their opponents. Atlanta receiver Julio Jones scored two second-half touchdowns as the Falcons scored all 22 second-half points in a 39-28 road win.

The New Orleans Saints lost to Carolina Panthers 27-22. This spells trouble for New Orleans, who are 0-3 and in serious danger of seeing their season collapse. Given the salary cap troubles that forced them to jettison players before the year, the Saints’ record is understandable, but few teams have ever come from such a bleak start to make the playoffs. Guardian Service