Right after the Mason Rudolph redemption arc started, it was immediately put to rest. The Steelers quarterback is “out multiple weeks” with the shoulder injury he suffered during Pittsburgh’s loss to the Jets, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Rapoport adds that even if Pittsburgh makes it into the postseason, “Rudolph is not expected to be available.” That means Devlin Hodges will be the starter in Week 17 against the Ravens, and potentially in a playoff game. Pittsburgh needs to beat Baltimore, and to have Tennessee either tie or lose to Houston, to get the final wild card spot in the AFC. Rudolph, a third-round pick in 2018, immediately took over under center when Ben Roethlisberger first went down all the way back at the beginning of the season.
He missed a game with a concussion and Hodges performed reasonably well, and when Rudolph struggled mightily upon returning, he was quickly benched for Hodges. After an initial honeymoon period Hodges began to turn the ball over frequently as well, and he was pulled against New York. Rudolph provided an initial spark and was playing well, before going down with the shoulder injury.
Former first-round Broncos bust Paxton Lynch is also on the roster, and will back up Hodges. It sure would be something if he manages to find his way onto the field. Fortunately for their cause, it looks like the Ravens are going to be resting a lot of their starters in Week 17. It’s been a rollercoaster of a season for the Steelers, and this is just the latest turn in a wild sequence of events.
Rest or not you’ve got to think the Ravens would like to best the Steelers to prevent them from making the playoffs
Gotta be honest with you, I think any playoff team would rather play Pittsburgh than Tennessee. The Steelers Defense is legit, but our offense can’t move the ball to save their lives
Yep. Hodges struggles to throw the ball more than ten yards downfield.
He can actually get it downfield, but who knows where it’s going.
Agreed
No worries….the Steelers aren’t going to make the playoffs!
Never say never technically the Raiders are still alive
the raiders have a better chance than Pittsburgh tbh
Maybe trade Duck & Mason to the XFL & bring Landry back or better yet Charlie Batch is hangin around suit him up.
These back ups are pitiful. At least Duck will throw the ball down the field it’s just usually to the other team. All Rudolph wants to do is check down to a RB.
Hell… if it’s one game, I’d be on the phone with Tommy Maddox, Mike Tomczak, Mark Malone, and Bubby Brister. Let them all play a quarter each. 1 of them has to have some fire left in their arm for 10 throws.
Something tells me we will see a variation of the wildcat at times this week.
Why do I have a sneaky feeling that Paxton Lynch will see some game action this weekend?
That should be a prop bet in Vegas. I’d be in for oh say, $10 billion.
That sneaky feeling likely results from knowing that Hodges can’t throw a football more than 8 feet.
PLAYOFFS!? Did someone say PLAYOFFS!?