Roethlisberger Has Thumb Injury Now

Another week, another injury for Ben Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger’s right thumb injury “is pretty painful,” he said Thursday, but the Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback hopes it won’t hinder his throwing in Sunday’s key AFC North game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The injury, not disclosed until Wednesday, follows injuries to both knees that kept Roethlisberger out of four games. Coach Bill Cowher also said Roethlisberger “tweaked” his ankle during a 26-7 loss to Indianapolis on Monday, but that injury was not listed on the team’s first injury report of the week.

That report, issued late Wednesday afternoon, was the first disclosure of any thumb injury. Neither Roethlisberger nor Cowher mentioned it following the Colts’ game.

Roethlisberger said the injury is painful enough that trainers designed a protective device so he could throw in practice Thursday and today.

Meanwhile, the Steelers have another key injury. Left tackle Marvel Smith (ankle) is out, which means rookie Trai Essex will be responsible for protecting Roethlisberger’s blind side.

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Donovan McNabb should “take it easy” before returning to the field, said Dr. William Meyers, who performed season-ending sports hernia surgery on the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Monday.

Meyers said McNabb had multiple tears and needed surgery immediately. Normal recovery time is eight to 10 weeks, and McNabb won’t play again this season because he was placed on injured reserve. Meyers wouldn’t put a timetable on McNabb’s return.

“It was at the point of the season where he was having more damage there and I said, ‘That’s enough. You’ve got to have surgery,’ ” Meyers said.

Citing patient confidentially, Meyers did not get into many specifics of McNabb’s injury, the surgery or recovery. He did not think McNabb would have returned this season even if he had the surgery earlier in the year.

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One day after the sheriff’s department determined felony charges were not warranted, Minneapolis prosecutor Steve Tallen said he hopes to decide within two weeks whether misdemeanor charges should be brought against members of the Minnesota Vikings for the Oct. 6 party aboard a pair of charter boats on Lake Minnetonka that allegedly included sex acts and other lewd behavior.

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Antrel Rolle, the eighth pick by the Arizona Cardinals in the April draft, could return Dec. 11 after tearing cartilage in his left knee Sept. 25 and undergoing surgery, Coach Dennis Green said.

Neil Rackers, whose streak of 31 field goals ended when he missed a 43-yard try Sunday, pulled a calf muscle in practice and is questionable for Sunday’s game at San Francisco.

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The Saints, already displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, will be on the move again next week when the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament takes over the Alamodome in San Antonio.

The Saints’ locker room will move to a high school baseball field. The weight room will go into a tent on the field’s parking lot. The front-office personnel will relocate to a city waterworks building.