Mike Tomlin maintained 'confidence' in Steelers' Mason Rudolph during early adversity

Despite Mason Rudolph’s poor start that resulted in a non-existent passer rating after the first quarter Monday night, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had no intention of having backup Devlin Hodges begin warming up for possible relief duty.

Tomlin made that clear Tuesday at his weekly press conference when he offered a terse response to a reporter’s question about why he didn’t have Hodges get ready on the sideline.

Tomlin paused, looked around the room and said, “Next.”

Rudolph recovered to throw for 251 yards and two touchdowns in the Steelers’ 27-14 victory against the Miami Dolphins.

Rudolph was starting for the first time since he sustained a concussion 22 days earlier against Baltimore. It was his fourth career NFL start. Tomlin said the long layoff presented a “unique” challenge to the second-year quarterback.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in him,” Tomlin said. “We didn’t need to see that. We’ve been working with him going on a couple years. That’s just in his DNA. That’s one reason the guys rally around him and believe in him.”

Rudolph’s play in the first quarter, however, looked like it was produced by a Halloween horror film. He threw an interception on his first attempt and was 1 of 6 for 14 yards in the opening 15 minutes. His passer rating was 0.00.

Rudolph improved in the second and third quarters when the Steelers rallied from a 14-0 deficit to take a 17-14 lead. Rudolph completed 8 of 14 attempts for 124 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter (110.4 passer rating). In the third, he was even better, completing 7 of 10 for 95 yards and a touchdown (133.3 rating). He was 4 of 6 for 18 yards (70.1) in the fourth quarter.

At one point in the second half, Rudolph completed seven consecutive passes.

“He got better as the game wore on, I thought his overall decision making became more fluid, his accuracy became better,” Tomlin said. “A lot of it had to do with footwork, but more than anything I thought he settled down as he got into action.”