Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had an emergency appendectomy after becoming ill Sunday and will miss Thursday night’s season opener against the Miami Dolphins.
Coach Bill Cowher is not certain how long Roethlisberger will be out after the quarterback’s third operation in 10 months and second in 2 1/2 months. Roethlisberger began having pain and was vomiting Sunday morning, and was taken to a hospital for surgery after being examined by the team’s medical staff.
“The surgery went well,” Cowher said. “He is obviously going to be out this week and we will go week to week from there.”
Charlie Batch, the former Detroit Lions starter who was 2-0 as a fill-in last season when Roethlisberger hurt his knee, will start against the Dolphins in the NFL’s season-opening showcase game.
“This is why Charlie is here. Charlie will be fine,” Cowher said. “It’s a situation that can happen to any football team. You can go out there and have a starter go down, whether it’s an ankle or something else of that nature. That’s the nature of the business.”
The appendix attack is yet another medical setback for Roethlisberger, who nearly died in a June 12 motorcycle accident only to make a remarkably fast recovery.
He missed no practice time during training camp and played better in the preseason than he did last year, when he went on to lead the Steelers to their first Super Bowl victory in 26 years.
