The path to the playoffs just got a little easier for the Cleveland Browns. They started the week trying to recover from a defeat at the hands of the grim New York Jets, knowing that they would have to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers to get a spot in the tournament. It turns out, however, it is no longer Ben Roethlisberger that they need to close the hatches. Coach Mike Tomlin announced on Tuesday that the team has decided to give the 38-year-old a break when he visits Cleveland, naming reserve defender Mason Rudolph as the regular’s end-of-season starter.
The Steelers won the AFC North title thanks to a harrowing victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 16, and Tomlin notes that he will now “send the chosen players into the playoffs by air”. The week of impromptu farewell will not extend to everyone, however, but certainly to Roethlisberger – who the team wants in full force for a potential race in the Super Bowl.
“The vast majority of the guys who have been playing will be playing,” added Tomlin, according to Andrew Siciliano of NFL Network.
For the Browns, it will be another encounter with Rudolph, after defeating him in Cleveland in 2019 in a competition that will live forever in the NFL’s infamy. Both Rudolph and Myles Garrett, on the defensive side of the All-Pro, came out of the fray, as did their teams, and the focus is now on the Browns trying to take advantage of inexperienced Rudolph, while Rudolph tries to end the Browns’ hopes in the playoff.
In the 2019 bout mentioned earlier, Rudolph pitched for 221 yards, but completed just 23 of 44 passes and racked up four interceptions to end the day with a grim passer rating of 36.3. He was also fired four times and the Browns hit 12 QB strikes against him. It won’t get any easier for him this time, and particularly with so much at stake for the Browns and nothing at stake for the Steelers, except the right to brag and make sure they don’t see Cleveland again until 2021. Having lost two of his last four games, including one for Jets, if the Browns fail to make it to the playoffs because they failed to overtake Rudolph – many will argue that they never deserved to be there.
So, interestingly, there is even more pressure on coach Kevin Stefanski to do this, because a QB2 is what separates him from the team’s first appearance in the playoffs since 2002.