Steelers Name Mason Rudolph as Starter vs. Bills

PITTSBURGH — Mike Tomlin has named Mason Rudolph his starting quarterback against the Buffalo Bills for their Wild Card playoff game. He simply wants to ride with the hot hand.

“We’re staying with the hot hand and not upsetting the apple cart. We’ll continue in that vein,” Tomlin said.

On the season, Mason Rudolph is 55 of 74 for 719 yards. He’s completed 74.3% of his passes, has not thrown an interception compared to three touchdowns, and has a passer rating of 118. It’s only three games, but the last time the Steelers had a quarterback finish the season with a passer rating over 100 was Ben Roethlisberger in 2014. The last time any quarterback finished a year with a passer rating as high as Rudolph’s is right now was in 2006, when Charlie Batch finished with a 121.0 in parts of eight games.

Rudolph started only three games this season. Yet he had the same amount of starts with a 110+ passer rating (3) as Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert.

The team will move forward with Mason Rudolph, who has showcased an ability to get himself and his weapons a chance to make plays. Now, they will hope that Rudolph can recreate his magic of the last three weeks against a solid Bills defense as they look to go up to Buffalo and nab their first playoff win since 2016. It’s Rudolph’s confidence that has helped galvanize a group that needed some shock to come back from a three-game losing streak.

“He has a great deal of confidence in himself, and it’s real. I think that’s contagious,” Tomlin said.

The playoffs are a different story, and the Bills are on a five-game winning streak. But Pittsburgh hopes that they can put up a fight and stun the Bills. As nearly 10-point underdogs, no one really believes in them, and that is when Tomlin teams can make some noise.