Jason Cole: Ben Roethlisberger Suspension to Come By Tuesday

According to Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, a decision on Ben Roethlisberger will come from Commissioner Roger Goodell by Tuesday. Cole also says Roethlisberger is not expected to fight any suspension handed down by Goodell or the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“Ben understands where this is going and he knows there’s punishment he’ll have to take,” a source close to Roethlisberger said. “He knows how much this hurt the team and the league. He wants to make this right.”

It sounds more like Roethlisberger would just like to get this over with rather than “make this right.” He understands the quicker the suspension is handed down and he serves it, the quicker the media and the public will begin to forget about this whole ugly situation.

It’s going to be a topic of discussion throughout this entire season, but if he and the team performs well enough it will be all-but forgotten in 2011.

So the next logical step in this whole thing is attempting to determine how long Roethlisberger will be suspended.

Popular opinion says it could be anywhere from two to eight games. But, of course, it will all depend on how Goodell is feeling. As a Personal Conduct Policy violation, Goodell holds all the cards and can suspend him for as long as he likes, as he displayed with his suspension of Chris Henry and Adam “Pacman” Jones in 2007.

Unlike the aforementioned players, Roethlisberger has not been charged with anything, so he probably won’t receive eight games (the length of Henry’s suspension) for his latest run-in with the legal system. Two games will probably create an uproar amongst the people (including myself) who feel Roethlisberger should be suspended as a slap on the wrist at best, and a clear sign of favoritism at worst.

So the safe bet is four games. That’s an entire quarter of the season, and should be sufficient enough to please all parties involved.

But even if Roethlisberger escapes with only a four-game suspension from the league, the Pittsburgh Steelers still reserve the right to suspend him another four weeks for “conduct detrimental to the team” — a rule implemented after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers deactivated Keyshawn Johnson for the remainder of the 2003 season, and then the Philadelphia Eagles did the same with Terrell Owens in 2005.

And make no mistake, the Rooneys are pissed off enough with Ben to do it.

“After you read the file and you listen to the player, the only conclusion you can come to is that what he did is unbelievably stupid,” a league source told Cole. “How could he have really thought this was a good idea?”

I’m not sure if stupidity alone is grounds for a suspension, but I’d sure love to see the precedent.