Steelers: Roethlisberger wasn’t using a phone on the sideline
Posted by Mike Florio on October 2, 2015, 10:40 AM EDT
Ben Roethlisberger, John Harbaugh
AP
In the post-#DeflateGate NFL, Patriots fans are looking for any and all evidence of other teams breaking the rules. On Thursday night, they thought they’d found some.
The CBS broadcast of the Ravens-Steelers game showed quarterback Ben Roethlisberger using what some thought was a smart phone. According to the Steelers, it wasn’t.
Team spokesman Burt Lauten tells PFT that Roehtlisberger was consulting his black, plastic wristband that contains the play calls for the game. Roethlisberger kept the wristband in his sweatshirt, removing the device throughout the game to examine it.
The explanation meshes with the images from the game. Besides, with the use of cellphones prohibited on NFL sidelines during games (even if they’re being used solely to block people on Twitter), common sense suggests that no one would be using one so blatantly and obviously during a game.
If any team understands this, it’s the Steelers. Four years ago, former Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu was fined $10,000 for using a cell phone during a game. The fine was overturned on appeal, based on the explanation that Polamalu (who had left the game in question with concussion-like symptoms) was simply calling his wife to tell her that he was fine.
