Steelers' Mike Tomlin has 'optimism' that Aaron Rodgers will start at quarterback against Bills

Aaron Rodgers will begin the week as a limited practice participant, but coach Mike Tomlin is expecting the 41-year-old quarterback to be ready Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Buffalo Bills in a game with playoff implications for both teams.

Rodgers missed the Steelers’ 31-28 loss at Chicago last Sunday with a fracture in his left wrist. In the aftermath of that game, Tomlin said he anticipated Rodgers returning this weekend, and he reiterated that stance at his weekly news conference Tuesday.

“We’ll start this week with great optimism, although we certainly will limit him at the early part of the week and provide opportunities for the other quarterbacks while preserving him,” Tomlin said. “We’re comfortable with the general trajectory.”

Mason Rudolph started against the Bears, and rookie sixth-round pick Will Howard was the backup. Rodgers was inactive and didn’t even carry the emergency No. 3 quarterback designation.

“It was the appropriate thing to do from our perspective,” Tomlin said.

Rodgers was limited in practice Thursday and Friday last week after not participating Wednesday. Wearing a brace to protect his wrist, Rodgers also did not take a snap from under center, a hurdle he will cross this week.

“What he needs and what others might need are different topics of conversation,” Tomlin said. “We don’t focus on the bare minimum in terms of what he needs. Our goal is to proceed and proceed with caution appropriately while at the same time giving him all the work we can afford to give him.

“We’re going to live that day by day.”

Although Rodgers is a four-time league MVP and former Super Bowl champion, his desire to play is secondary to the information Tomlin receives from the team’s medical staff.

“I’m not going to take his competitive spirit and will to compete as a negative,” Tomlin said. “Those are positives. But it’s our job as leaders to exercise appropriate precaution.”

Rudolph completed 24 of 31 passes for 171 yards, one touchdown and one interception in his first start of the season. He was sacked twice, losing a fumble on a sack that the Bears converted into a touchdown.

The Steelers averaged 4.8 yards per pass attempt, their second-lowest total of the season. It also was the third time in the past four games they averaged fewer than 5.0 yards per pass. Rudolph was 0 for 3 with an interception on pass attempts of 20 or more yards against the Bears.

In another example of the reliance on short passes, the Steelers totaled 118 yards after the catch.

“A lot of it has to do with schemes that people deploy, but we also could be better in that area,” Tomlin said the lack of a deep passing game. “The deep ball always has been an asset of Mason Rudolph’s game. It wasn’t necessarily so last Sunday. We had plays to be made down the grass that we didn’t take advantage of.”

The Steelers (6-5) have lost four of their past six games. They have a kindred spirit in the Bills, who entered the season as a Super Bowl favorite yet have lost four of seven following a 4-0 start. The Bills (7-4) occupy second place in the AFC East and hold the seventh and final spot in the AFC playoff picture.

Sunday begins a critical stretch for the Steelers, who have five conference games remaining out of the final six games, including two matchups with fellow AFC North leader Baltimore.

The game against Buffalo holds the 4:25 p.m. time slot on CBS, giving the matchup the feel of a must-win game.

“I always feel that way,” Tomlin said when asked if he views the game as a playoff preview. “I’ve been in this league so long. We don’t have an 80-plus game schedule or a 160-plus game schedule. You get 17 games to state a case for yourself, so there is extreme urgency in our business.”