Rudolph injury forces Steelers to reinsert benched Hodges

The Pittsburgh Steelers' season-long issues under center continued Sunday.

After being benched earlier in the game against the New York Jets, Devlin Hodges was reinserted into the lineup when Mason Rudolph suffered a left shoulder injury in the fourth quarter.

Hodges wasn't able to engineer a late comeback for the Steelers, who fell to 8-7 with a 16-10 loss to New York.

The Steelers will need to beat the Baltimore Ravens - who might rest their starters after securing the No. 1 seed - and hope the Tennessee Titans lose in Week 17 in order to secure the final wild-card spot.

Rudolph replaced Hodges at quarterback after the latter threw two interceptions in the first half.

The Jets were up 10-0 when the Steelers made the initial move back to Rudolph, who threw for 129 yards and a touchdown before exiting.

Hodges was coming off a four-interception game against the Buffalo Bills.

The rookie passer started the last three games after the team benched Rudolph, whose own turnover issues had become too much for Pittsburgh.

Rudolph started eight of nine games following Ben Roethlisberger's season-ending injury in Week 2. The 2018 third-round pick struggled to push the ball downfield, throwing 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions. In his last start, the Cleveland Browns picked him off four times.

"He has not killed us," head coach Mike Tomlin said when he made the decision to start Hodges over Rudolph in Week 13.

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