PITTSBURGH \u2014 Their future Hall of Fame quarterback spent the second half in the locker room dealing with an aching left wrist. The perennial All-Pro live wire at the back end of their defense joined him after being ejected.<\/p>\n
And still the Pittsburgh Steelers found a way, and steadied their season in the process.<\/p>\n
Mason Rudolph guided a pair of long scoring drives after replacing the injured Aaron Rodgers<\/a>, and the Steelers surged past the Cincinnati Bengals, 34-12, on Sunday to remain atop the AFC North while also playing without safety Jalen Ramsey, who was thrown out for throwing a punch at Cincinnati wide receiver Ja\u2019Marr Chase.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a chance for us to get right and get back to what we do,\u201d veteran defensive lineman Cam Heyward said.<\/p>\n The Steelers (6-4) did it with a mix of new (and in Rudolph\u2019s case, old) faces that looked comfortable stepping into the void.<\/p>\n Rodgers, the NFL\u2019s oldest active player at 41, injured the wrist on his non-throwing hand at some point in the second quarter. It was unclear exactly when the four-time MVP was hurt. He was hit twice during a drive in the waning moments of the half, both of which resulted in roughing-the-passer penalties against Cincinnati.<\/p>\n The team initially listed Rodgers as questionable to return, though he was absent from the sideline in the second half. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Rodgers will undergo further testing on Monday.<\/p>\n Enter Rudolph, the longtime backup who led the Steelers on a late run to the playoffs<\/a> in 2023. He returned to Pittsburgh last spring after a year with Tennessee, though he quickly ceded the starting job after Rodgers signed in early June.<\/p>\n It was only when Rodgers pointed to Rudolph during halftime that Rudolph knew he would be going in. The eight-year veteran picked up right where he left off the last time he took meaningful snaps for the Steelers, completing 12 of 16 throws for 127 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown pass to running back Kenneth Gainwell with 3:40 left that sealed it.<\/p>\n \u201cI love playing here, this is where I was drafted,\u201d said Rudolph, a third-round pick by Pittsburgh in 2018. \u201cThis is home and yeah, (it was) very, very special.\u201d<\/p>\n Pittsburgh\u2019s defense, which was shredded by Joe Flacco<\/a> and the Bengals a month ago, added two touchdowns of its own.<\/p>\n Safety Kyle Dugger, acquired in a trade with New England last month that looks shrewder by the week, intercepted Flacco and returned it 74 yards for a game-turning pick-6<\/a> in the third quarter. Cornerback James Pierre added a 32-yard scoop-and-score late in the fourth.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody gives you a gift like that, you\u2019ve got to maximize it for the defense for the team,\u201d Dugger said after the 10th and perhaps easiest interception of his career.<\/p>\n Flacco\u2019s run of inspired play came to an abrupt end. The 40-year-old, who had not looked his age since taking over for an injured Joe Burrow and ineffective Jake Browning, delivered his worst performance since joining Cincinnati (3-7) last month. Flacco completed 23 of 40 passes for 199 yards with a touchdown and Dugger\u2019s interception.<\/p>\n \u201cYou knew they were going to make it tough for us, and we just couldn\u2019t come through in those little moments,\u201d Flacco said.<\/p>\n Spit gate?<\/p>\n Ramsey and Cincinnati star receiver Ja\u2019Marr Chase exchanged trash talk much of the afternoon before being hit with unsportsmanlike conduct penalties with the Bengals driving in Pittsburgh territory in the fourth quarter. They were separated by teammates, only to re-engage after the whistle on the following play.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when Ramsey said Chase crossed a line by spitting on him, which Chase denied. Video indicated some spittle came out of Chase\u2019s mouth while he and Ramsey were facemask to facemask, hitting the top of Ramsey\u2019s jersey.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure the NFL, they\u2019ll do their due diligence,\u201d Ramsey said. \u201cThey got a hundred cameras out there. They can investigate. They can see everything, I just told y\u2019all, it\u2019s facts.\u201d<\/p>\n Referee Bill Vinovich said afterward his crew did not see \u201canything that rose to that level at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Chase said he \u201cnever opened my mouth\u201d toward Ramsey.<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t like some of the words I told him,\u201d Chase said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been going back and forth the whole time, so I\u2019m sure something got under his skin.\u201d<\/p>\n Unsung heroes<\/p>\n Gainwell, signed as a free agent in March after helping Philadelphia win the Super Bowl last season, has found a niche behind starter Jaylen Warren. Gainwell finished with 105 total yards (81 receiving, 24 rushing) and the second and third touchdown receptions of his career.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh tight end Darnell Washington \u2014 all 6-foot-7 and 300-plus pounds of him \u2014 gave the Steelers a jolt by finishing with four receptions for 67 yards, including a 31-yard catch-and-run in the second quarter in which he stiff-armed one defender to the ground and ran over two others<\/a>.<\/p>\n Injuries<\/p>\n Bengals: CB Cam Taylor-Britt exited with a left foot injury in the first half and did not return. TE Drew Sample was evaluated for a right oblique injury but returned. DE Trey Hendrickson missed his second straight game with a hip injury.<\/p>\n Steelers: WR\/KR Ke\u2019Shawn Williams entered the concussion protocol in the first quarter after taking a hit while returning the opening kickoff.<\/p>\n Up next<\/p>\n Bengals: Host AFC East-leading New England next Sunday.<\/p>\n Steelers: Visit Chicago next Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Their future Hall of Fame quarterback spent the second half in the locker room dealing with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3269,3616,73,75,74,1829],"class_list":["post-36134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-bengals","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-steelers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}