Less than a week ago, it was presumed that Byron Leftwich had the upper hand in the competition for the starting quarterback job of the Pittsburgh Steelers while Ben Roethlisberger served his four-game suspension to start the season. Then, in the second quarter of Pittsburgh’s final preseason game, Leftwich’s hopes were dashed when he injured the MCL in his right knee.
Now, in the aftermath of the unfortunate injury, Leftwich is understandably disappointed and left to wonder what could have been.
“You ask any player and you hate that. You hate being in the training room, especially when you have the chance to miss the game,” said Leftwich. “We do all this work in the offseason. Everything we do is for Sunday, and to know there is a chance you can’t play, it’s a tough thing to think about. There are only so many opportunities. To not have that opportunity is what makes it tough.”
“It’s disappointing because there is a chance I might miss this one. See how I left myself a chance,” said a smiling Leftwich. “What we do for a living sometimes these things happen. It happened to me in that game. It’s something I will deal with, get better from and heal as fast as possible.”
Despite understanding the reality of his situation, Leftwich isn’t entirely downtrodden, and hopes he still has some bright days in Pittsburgh or elsewhere in the NFL still ahead.
“It’s moving better than I thought it would,” said Leftwich “I never hurt my knee before so I didn’t know what to expect. I am confident I can get back.”