Tomlin: Big Ben to return this week
It’s official: Ben Roethlisberger is back for the Steelers.
Coach Mike Tomlin confirmed the news Tuesday, saying the twotime Super Bowl-winning quarterback is preparing to play Sunday against unbeaten Cincinnati after missing four games with a sprained knee and bruised leg.
“We don’t have any reservations or limitations about his availability,” Tomlin said. “As I sit here today, we are comfortable with where he is in his overall availability this week.”
Roethlisberger initially feared the worst — a season-ending injury — when he left in the third quarter of a September win at St. Louis. Now, he’s returning on the early end of the four-to-six week timetable that was projected, and just in time.
Pittsburgh, which went 2-2 without Roethlisberger, is 4-3 overall and 2½ games behind the Bengals for the top spot in the AFC North.
Giants: Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and the club agreed to a contract more than three months after he damaged his right hand in a fireworks accident in Florida.
Pierre-Paul met with the team over the past two days and was given the OK to play by team doctors. Negotiations on a new contract followed since the Giants were not willing to have him sign the franchise tender that was offered before the July 4 accident.
The Giants hope to have Pierre-Paul ready for Week 10 against the Patriots, Fox Sports reported.
Texans: Quarterback Ryan Mallett has been released by Houston after he missed the team’s charter flight to Florida over the weekend. The Texans announced the decision Tuesday and also officially placed Arian Foster on injured reserve, a day after coach Bill O’Brien said he would miss the rest of the season with an Achilles tendon injury.
Mallett said he missed the flight because of traffic and he took a commercial flight to meet the team in Miami, where the team was blown out 44-26 and fell to 2-5.
The team is expected to sign T. J. Yates as its backup QB, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Browns: Police say NFL investigators have spoken to the officers at the scene of quarterback Johnny Manziel’s domestic incident.
The league is looking into whether Manziel violated its personal conduct policy when he got into an argument with his girlfriend on Oct. 12.
Rams: Placed outside linebacker Alec Ogletree, their leading tackler, on injured reserve-designated to return, three weeks after surgery for a fractured right ankle. Ogletree is eligible to return for the last two games of the regular season.
Buccaneers: Placed wide receiver Louis Murphy (torn ACL) on injured reserve and released cornerbacks Keon Lyn and Daxton Swanson and tackle Martin Wallace from the practice squad.
Late Monday
Cardinals 26, Ravens 18: Chris Johnson rolled to victory. Arizona had to hold on to win.
Johnson rushed for 122 yards, 62 on a play where he rolled over the belly of a big defender and kept on running to set up a field goal, and the host Cardinals held on to beat luckless Baltimore.
The Ravens (1-6) drove to the 4 in the final seconds before Tony Jefferson’s interception deep in the end zone clinched the victory for NFC West-leading Arizona (5-2).
Coach John Harbaugh said the Ravens had trouble with the communications system throughout the game, particularly in the final drive.
It wasn’t the only bad break for Baltimore: ESPN reported that the league “will acknowledge” that referee Ronald Torbert erred when he penalized the Ravens for using an illegal formation in the first quarter.