When news first came out some five weeks ago that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had an MCL injury, many in the Queen City pulled out their calendars and Cincinnati Bengals schedules to do a little injury-return math.
It didn't take long for many to realize that the last of the approximate four weeks Roethlisberger was scheduled to miss would coincide with the Bengals' first meeting of the year with the Steelers. The prevailing thought in Cincinnati was that at some point before the Nov. 1 meeting the quarterback would be back. Although, like Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap said Monday about the long-noted tough Roethlisberger, "If it would have been last week he got injured, he probably [still] would play this week.