SPORTS UPDATE
Aaron Rodgers exited the Steelers‘ Week 11 win against the Bengals after sustaining a left wrist injury late in the first half. While he was initially labeled as questionable to return, Rodgers never returned to the sideline during the second half, much less the field.
After Pittsburgh’s 34-12 win, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said that Rodgers will have his wrist further evaluated on Monday. At halftime, he told CBS Sports’ Melanie Collins that Rodgers was being evaluated and that they were hopeful that he would return at some point. Rodgers was seen holding his wrist after being hit by multiple Bengals defenders during the Steelers’ final offensive play of the first half.
Rodgers was replaced during the second half by Mason RudolphPittsburgh’s longtime backup who entered the game with a 9-8-1 record as an NFL starting quarterback that included an 8-4-1 as the Steelers’ starting quarterback. During the second half, Rudolph went 12 of 16 for 127 yards and a touchdown while directing two scoring drives.
“He’s always delivered when called upon in the past,” Tomlin said of Rudolph, the only quarterback to start a playoff game for Pittsburgh since Ben Roethlisberger. “That’s why we value him. His performance was consistent with what he’s done in the past for us. Not that we take it for granted. We don’t. We appreciate it.”
Rodgers, 41, helped lead Pittsburgh to a 10-6 halftime lead over a Cincinnati team that defeated the Steelers back in Week 7. Rodgers gave the Steelers an early lead by throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to running back Kenneth Gainwell on the game’s opening drive.
With Rodgers sidelined, Pittsburgh added to its lead in the third quarter. After Rudolph’s first drive ended in a Chris Boswell field goal, Steelers safety Kyle Dugger made it a 20-9 game when he recorded a 73-yard pick-six off of Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco late in the third quarter.
After a Bengals field goal made it 20-12 with less than 10 minutes to play, Rudolph put the game out of reach with a five-yard touchdown pass to Gainwell with 3:40 left. The Steelers’ defense recorded its second touchdown of the day moments later when defensive back James Pierre took a fumble 34 yards to the house.
Rudolph said that Rodgers notified him at halftime that he would be leading the Steelers’ offense at the start of the second half. When asked to assess his performance, Rudolph pointed to the final score.
“We won, and that’s the only the the only objective,” he said. “I thought I settled down a little bit. I had a couple errant ones early, but just tried to get it to out to our guys. [The Bengals] played a lot of soft, one-high zone, and so we were letting a whole lot of stuff go over the middle. … I was really proud of the way the guys. We had a couple bad penalties that backed us up, and we overcame it and got some points on the board.”
With the win, Pittsburgh improved to 6-4 on the season while retaining its lead over second-place Baltimore in the AFC North standings.
