Ben Roethlisberger runs with his hand covered during practice at the Steelers' training facility in Latrobe Thursday. Roethlisberger did some running, but did not participate in drills because of an injury to his thumb.

LATROBE — Ben Roethlisberger still can't stay away from injuries, only this time they're occurring on the football field.

Roethlisberger, apparently healed from the severe facial injuries he sustained in a motorcycle crash two months ago, has a sprained ligament in his right thumb and is questionable for the Pittsburgh Steelers' exhibition game against Minnesota on Saturday night.

The Super Bowl-winning quarterback banged the thumb on a lineman's shoulder pad late in practice Wednesday, though neither he nor coach Bill Cowher thinks his second thumb injury in nine months is serious.

"It's all right, I think it's going to be OK," Roethlisberger said Thursday after watching the team's only practice of the day from the sidelines. "It's like getting a day off."

Roethlisberger initially hurt the thumb against the Colts in a Monday night game Nov. 28, but didn't miss any games because of the injury. The Steelers listed him on their injury report the rest of the season, but never specified the nature of the thumb injury.

Roethlisberger said Thursday he broke the thumb; last season, he said only that he was in pain for weeks after getting hurt. Cowher, who doesn't allow others in the organization to talk about injuries, did not talk to reporters after practice and thus did not confirm his quarterback's diagnosis.

The two haven't always agreed about injuries before. After his 2004 rookie season ended, Roethlisberger said he broke several toes during the AFC championship game loss to New England, but Cowher later said that wasn't true and the quarterback had merely aggravated a toe injury from college.

This time, coach and player both believe this injury should have little or no effect on Roethlisberger's preparation for the Sept. 7 opener against Miami.

"It's one of those things where we've got to let it heal," Roethlisberger said. "It's a strain of the ligament. It was a good day to take off and let it heal."

Cowher will decide today whether Roethlisberger will play Saturday, though it seems unlikely he would risk putting his star into a meaningless game if there was even a slight chance there might be a problem.

"There's still two days," Roethlisberger said. "I played all last year with a broken thumb. I can do it. I'm sure some fans should be happy I did this."

That reference was to the Steelers having won the Super Bowl with Roethlisberger playing despite the injured thumb.

"We'll see how he feels (today)," Cowher said. "If he feels OK (today), he'll play Saturday. There's no indication we have to do any kind of tests or anything."

If Roethlisberger can't go, backup Charlie Batch will start but won't play any longer than the rest of the starters, or about one quarter. Rookie Omar Jacobs and free agent Shane Boyd would play the rest of the way.

The injury interrupted what had been an uneventful training camp for Roethlisberger — a remarkable development, perhaps, considering how serious his June 12 motorcycle accident initially appeared to be.

Despite breaking his jaw, nose and some orbital bones during a crash in which he lost a considerable amount of blood, two teeth and sustained a concussion, Roethlisberger had missed no practice time since camp began July 28 and has thrown the ball increasingly well.

"He's been fine, there's been no problem with it (the thumb) this whole camp," Cowher said. "I mean, he's been throwing the ball pretty good. At this point, all indications are this is day to day, so we'll see how he feels."

Wide receiver Hines Ward missed practice again with a sore hamstring, an injury that has bothered him for nearly two weeks. Ward, tight end Jerame Tuman (hamstring), center Chukky Okobi (neck) and wide receiver Isaac West (knee) won't play Saturday.

"He's as frustrated as anyone," Cowher said of Ward, the Super Bowl MVP. "He's trying everything and anything. It's eating at him not to be out there. He likes to practice. You have to get him to be patient. I'd like to see him out there, but we have to be smart about this and recognize that it's a lengthy season."

Missing from the injury report was Pro Bowl linebacker Joey Porter, who had arthroscopic knee surgery in May and returned to practice only last week.

"We'll give him a couple of snaps (Saturday) to get acclimated to the speed" of game play, Cowher said. "We'll go from there."