It looks like the mystery surrounding Ben Roethlisberger's playing status against Baltimore isn't going to be officially answered until Sunday morning.
Although Roethlisberger was on the field for the Steelers' practice on Friday, coach Mike Tomlin was mum when asked if Big Ben would be the team's starter against the Ravens.
"[Ben] had a good day today. We'll see how his body responds to the work," Tomlin said, via ESPN.com. "We don't have to make the decision today so we won't."
If Roethlisberger can't go, that means the Steelers will likely start Landry Jones.
Jones' name also came up during Tomlin's interview on Friday; however, the Steelers coach was in no mood to talk about his backup quarterback. When Tomlin was asked how he split reps up between Roethlisberger and Jones this week, he simply said, "No."
Tomlin also gave a big fat "No" when he was asked about Roethlisberger's production during practice this week. Although Roethlisberger was on the field for all three of the team's practices, he was a limited participant each day and has been listed as questionable for Sunday's game. The game will be played less than three weeks after Roethlisberger's Oct. 17 surgery to repair a torn meniscus.
As for the Ravens, they're expecting Roethlisberger to play, but they probably wouldn't mind if he didn't.
"We'll prepare as if he's going to play," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said this week, via the Steelers' official website. "The offense doesn't change that much if Landry Jones is in there. Obviously, they're different players. Ben is Ben, and we respect him tremendously. We'll operate under that assumption."
During Big Ben's career, the Ravens are 6-1 in regular season games when Roethlisberger doesn't play and just 8-9 in regular season games when he does play.
