Dec 2, 2015 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – Ben Roethlisberger is being tested so often this week, he must feel like he’s back in school.

But the Steelers’ quarterback knows concussions are no laughing matter.

That’s why when he began having difficulty with his peripheral vision after taking a blow to the head late in last Sunday’s 39-30 loss at Seattle, he immediately went to the team’s doctors to report the issue.

Roethlisberger was pulled from the game, something no player wants to have happen.

Roethlisberger was officially diagnosed with a concussion Tuesday after taking an imPACT test.

He retook the test Wednesday and was cleared to resume practicing as the Steelers (6-5) prepare to host Indianapolis (6-5) in a matchup of teams fighting for playoff spots in the AFC.

Regardless of the importance of the game, Roethlisberger said he would not have rushed back had he not been cleared to practice. In 2013, the NFL put a strict set of guidelines in place that teams must follow once a player has been diagnosed with a concussion.

He hopes his actions help influence others to make similar moves in the same situation.

“We are blessed to be able to stand on a big platform and reach a lot of people,” Roethlisberger said. “If you can touch or reach one person, I feel like it’s a successful day. So many young kids, middle school, high school or college, it’s tough to fight through a concussion. And it was tough when I first got in the league. It probably still is.

“It’s not smart. That’s the one part of your body you shouldn’t mess with.”

Roethlisberger suffered the injury with just over seven minutes remaining in last Sunday’s game, when he was hit in the head by Seattle defensive lineman Michael Bennett. Bennett has been fined three times for hits on quarterbacks this season – $20,000 each for illegal hits on Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton and Matt Cassell of Dallas, and $17,363 for a preseason hit on Kansas City’s Alex Smith.

It is not yet known if Bennett will be fined for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Roethlisberger, but he did draw a 15-yard penalty on the play.

With his clearance to practice, Roethlisberger would already be in the fourth of five stages: a resumption of non-contact football activities.

He will have to take concussion tests for the remainder of this week, but without any setbacks, he should start Sunday against the Colts.

“I would assume so,” Roethlisberger said. “I guess if you are allowed to practice, you can play.”

Pulling himself out of a game in which the Steelers trailed 32-30 late in the fourth quarter was not an easy decision, but Roethlisberger felt it was the right move.

“As a competitor, it’s hard not to want to be out there,” he said. “I was standing there for the first time thinking, ‘It’s bigger than just me. It’s about my family, my wife, my kids.'”

That’s why he hopes his teammates and others notice what he did and will react in a similar fashion, though he knows that’s not always realistic.

Roethlisberger said earlier in his career, he might not have said anything to the team’s doctors because he wouldn’t want to be pulled from the game.

“We need to be smarter as football players,” Roethlisberger said. “You have to think about what sort of man, husband, father you want to be when you’re done playing because this is such a short part of our life.

“You see the ramifications in players 10, 20, 30 years after they’re done playing. It’s sad. I don’t want my teammates, my linemen, my running backs that you played with that, when you have reunions, when we have this Super Bowl 40 reunion how many years from now, I don’t want to see guys hobbled on the sidelines and drooling and not being able to remember things. I think we all need to be clear about it.”