Thursday's game between the Steelers and Colts may be without a key player: Indianapolis' Andrew Luck.

The young quarterback is in the NFL's concussion protocol, and it's hard for a player to pass all the tests on a short week. When asked about his positional counterpart Tuesday, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said he wanted to see Luck, 27, out there, but only if he's capable.

“The brain is nothing to mess with. He’s young and has a long career ahead of him," Big Ben said during a conference call. “You have to prepare for him to play. If he does say he doesn’t feel ready to go out there, there will be no knock on him coming from me.”

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Roethlisberger then started talking about concussions in general, and admitted he used to hide them in the past. He says he doesn't do that anymore now that he knows about the dangers involved with head injuries.

“You can rub dirt on a lot of things. You can’t rub dirt on the brain, so you’ve got to be smart about that. When you play this game long enough, you’re bound to have injuries because it is a violent sport," he said. “You’ve got to be smart when it comes to your brain because you play football for such a short period of your life. When you’ve got a family and people you’re going to be with for long-term, you’ve got to really make sure your health is taken care of.”