After the game wide receivers Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes suggested Roethlisberger was letting the Steelers down by forcing them to play the inexperienced Dennis Dixon in a critical game with limited preparation.
Ward said, “This game is almost like a playoff game. It’s almost a must-win. I could see some players or teammates questioning, like, ‘It’s just a concussion. I’ve played with a concussion before.’ ’’
Holmes said, “We would have liked for him to play. If he had the opportunity, he should have played for us, but he didn’t. And we didn’t get the job done.’’
Afterward, coach Mike Tomlin explained the last-minute decision wasn’t made by Roethlisberger, as some players apparently thought, but was made by the team following a recommendation by neurologist Joseph Maroon.
“I’m not worried about a problem in the locker room,’’ Tomlin said. “In that instance, maybe Hines was misinformed. I didn’t give him the detailed explanation that went down in terms of the decision-making. I was more concerned with getting Dennis ready to play.’’
Meanwhile, Arizona signal-caller Kurt Warner sat out Sunday after a concussion the previous week, also after saying he had planned to play.
Warner said he headed to a meeting with Cardinals medical staff and coaches before Sunday’s game wrestling with the question of whether to be honest about the post-concussion symptoms he was experiencing.
“Do I want to stretch the truth a little bit? Do I want to not tell them everything so I could play?’’ he said yesterday.
“I know I could dictate it,’’ he added. “But then I had to go, ‘What are you thinking?’ Because I know this is bigger than that.’’
Warner said he plans to see an ophthalmologist about lingering symptoms that kept him out of what ended up a 20-17 Arizona loss at Tennessee.
Ryan to miss game
