Big Ben will be out up to 6 weeks

No, Ben Roethlisberger isn’t made of steel.

The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback has played through injuries that include but are not limited to a broken nose and jaw, the after-effects from an appendectomy, any number of concussions, a high ankle sprain, a sprained foot and a shoulder sprain. This time, though, his recovery won’t be so swift.

Roethlisberger could miss four to six weeks — not the one-plus-a-bye that some had predicted, after having the torn meniscus in his left knee surgically repaired Monday.

Roethlisberger will be out for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots, and the Steelers are off the following week. That gives him until Nov. 6, when the Steelers will play the Ravens in Baltimore, to heal.

“It’s going to kill me not to be able to go against (Tom Brady) Sunday. I’ve said many times I think he’s one of the best quarterbacks of all time and the best one going right now,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “You know me. I love to battle the best.”

Even Roethlisberger had to admit that a Nov. 6 return was optimistic.

“Doc says my knee looked good, but there still was some stuff in there from when I had my bone bruise last season in St. Louis,” he said. “He said that might keep me out a little longer than just a simple meniscus tear. Maybe an extra week or so. But there’s no way to put an exact timetable on it. It all depends on my pain and how I feel.”

In the interim, Landry Jones will start for the Steelers.