The Pittsburgh Steelers left everybody wondering who would start at quarterback today until about two hours ahead of kickoff but ultimately shut Aaron Rodgers down for the day and started Mason Rudolph. Tomlin announced after the Steelers’ 31-28 loss to the Chicago Bears that Rodgers is likely to play in Week 13 against the Buffalo Bills.
“I anticipate him being ready for next week. It was a prudent decision to make,” Tomlin said via the Steelers’ YouTube. “It wasn’t a fluid week for him. I think it’ll be in our rearview as we move forward. I’m hopeful of that.”
It seemed like a game-time decision, but Tomlin confirmed that he made his mind up yesterday about Rudolph starting. Rodgers had two limited practices to end the week, but they entered their preparation with the idea of tailoring their offensive game plan to Rudolph’s skill set. Their comfortability with Rudolph factored into their decision to go with him over Rodgers. In the end, that nearly worked with a narrow loss in Chicago.
Every report throughout the week indicated that Rodgers was pushing the Steelers’ doctors and decision makers to play against the Bears, but the Steelers decided to hold him out. Jay Glazer gave context to Tomlin’s decision this morning via FOX NFL Sunday.
“I talked to Mike Tomlin about it this morning and he said, ‘I wanna hold him out this week to protect him for next week,'” Glazer said. “The thought process is he has a break in that wrist, but it’s not displaced. But if he ends up going out there and then lands on it the wrong way, it could be displaced, and he’d be out for the rest of the year if that happened.”
The Steelers are usually conservative with injuries, especially ones that risk getting worse with a premature return. They proved that last year with Russell Wilson’s calf injury that ended up lasting for months throughout the preseason and the beginning of the regular season.
While Rodgers is likely to play next Sunday, it’s worth mentioning that a fracture doesn’t heal in just two weeks. The same issue he had this week will presumably be present next week against the Bills, albeit with less swelling and more experience practicing with a brace on his left wrist.
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