Steelers squeak by the Bengals after Rudolph gets benched

The Pittsburgh Steelers earned their sixth victory of the season against the Bengals, but it came with Devlin Hodges at the helm. Here is a recap of the game.

Things weren’t pretty in the early going for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Though they were facing perhaps the league’s worst team, Mason Rudolph and company failed to get anything going on offense. However, the Steelers eventually pulled out a 16-10 victory over their division rival.

Rudolph threw an interception in the red zone early and managed just 85 passing yards on a mere 5.3 yards per attempt. Because of this, Rudolph was benched early in the second half in favor of Devlin Hodges.

Hodges provided an immediate spark for Pittsburgh – throwing a 79-yard touchdown pass to James Washington on his very first series. This gave the Steelers a 10-7 lead early in the third quarter.

While things weren’t exactly smooth sailing for the offense in the second half of the game, Hodges did enough to get the job done, and has now led Pittsburgh to two wins in his only two appearances this season. Because of this, he is likely to get the nod at quarterback next week.

As always, Pittsburgh’s defense wasn’t the issue. T.J. Watt led this unit to another superb game. though Pittsburgh did allow a touchdown, much of Ryan Finley’s yardage came on two big plays – both acrobatic catches by wide receiver, Tyler Boyd.

Devin Bush forced a big fumble late in the game that was recovered by  (who else) Minkah Fitzpatrick who took it back to midfield. Though the Bengals had a chance to make one final touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter, Bud Dupree ultimately sealed the game with a strip-sack and a fumble recovery.

Pittsburgh may have done enough to defeat the NFL’s worst team for the second time this year, but this type of performance won’t be enough to cut it against solid opponents.

The Steelers face the Cleveland Browns at home next week in what promises to be a heated game after the chaos that ensued on Thursday Night Football two weeks ago. Whoever is leading the charge at quarterback, they will have to do better than they did today to advance to 7-5 on the season.