Ben Roethlisberger has torn ligaments in throwing shoulder

Burfict’s most recent violation came with 22 seconds remaining in last Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, when he was penalized for unnecessary roughness for using his shoulder to make forcible contact to the head and neck area of a defenseless receiver.

But both players – quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown – have a chance to be ready Sunday for a divisional-round playoff game in Denver.

CINCINNATI – Bengals players aren’t happy with Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter, who was on the field in the closing minutes of Pittsburgh’s 18-16 playoff victory and wound up in the middle of an altercation.

On 93.7 The Fan, Roethlisberger said that in addition to the sprained AC joint he suffered in the Wild Card Round he also has some torn ligaments in that same shoulder. If anything, maybe I can practice and hand off and still get some mental reps that way.

Porter was on the field following linebacker Vontaze Burfict’s illegal hit on receiver Antonio Brown, allegedly chirping at Bengals players – and loitering to interact with Bengals players after Brown was leaving the field.

“He’s trying to go over and defend the play”, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said after the game. “But you know and I know that when Saturday gets here, all that will go out the window….”

“We respect the process and we’ll adhere to it”, Tomlin said about the concussion protocol program.

It’s uncommon. And I think it’s a huge deal.

Marshall, who pointed out that a wink can mean many different things, also noted that Brown has yet to be cleared to play this week. “They did a nice job allowing us to maintain the personality we wanted to retain in the run game”.

Penalties had been an issue for the Broncos in the first half of the regular season, coming to a crescendo in Week 9 against Indianapolis when the defense had four penalties that helped the Colts control a game-sealing drive.

Saturday’s Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals game was such a display of out of control behavior that it is still the source of topic on Tuesday.

“I thought our young running backs did a nice job answering the call”, Tomlin said.