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Ben Roethlisberger’s Injury Has Potential to Crush Steelers’ Super Bowl Hopes (Podcast)

Week 10 was a tough week to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.

A number of signal callers went down with injuries on Sunday, causing some panic amongst footballs fans and fantasy football owners everywhere. Perhaps the most impactful injury, however, came on Monday night, when the Steelers lost Ben Roethlisberger to a shoulder injury.

The severity of Roethlisberger’s injury is still unknown, but it’s already clear that if the two-time Super Bowl champion is forced to miss an extended period of time, the Steelers’ Super Bowl hopes could be in jeopardy. Pittsburgh has the defense to temporarily survive Roethlisberger’s absence, but the Black and Yellow ultimately need him back in the fold to overcome the Ravens, Patriots, Texans and the rest of the AFC.

NESN.com assistant editor Ricky Doyle caught up with NFL writer Luke Hughes to break down what Roethlisberger’s injury means to the Steelers, as well as which backup quarterback has the highest potential to succeed after Sunday’s rash of injuries.

The two also tried to make sense of the NFC playoff picture, which is pretty foggy at the moment, and pinpointed exactly where the differences lie between this year’s New England defense and last season’s unit that played so poorly despite the team’s Super Bowl run.

Have a listen to the goodness in the player below, or subscribe to iTunes to download it there.