Steelers' Mike Tomlin mum on QB rotation against Titans
Ben Roethlisberger is going to start Sunday night against the Tennessee Titans.
Beyond that, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin won’t reveal which backup quarterback will enter the game immediately after Roethlisberger wraps up his preseason debut.
Could be Mason Rudolph. Could be Josh Dobbs. Heck, it could even be Devlin Hodges.
Tomlin wouldn’t commit to any scenario Friday when he held his final press availability in advance of the Steelers’ third preseason game.
“Ben will play,” Tomlin said. “We don’t have a specific division of labor at this point in terms of quarterback participation beyond that. Who’s going to play? How long they are going to play? Our energy now is on that first group and Ben and getting those guys in the game and get some exposure there.
“Hopefully, we’ll get some success and move on from there.”
Dobbs, who was the No. 2 quarterback last season, and Rudolph, the team’s third-round draft pick in 2018, are competing to be Roethlisberger’s backup. Hodges has spent training camp as the fourth quarterback but is trying to force his way onto the roster.
Pressed on the quarterback issue, Tomlin refused to budge. He wouldn’t even commit to Rudolph and Dobbs each getting snaps against the Titans.
“Again, I’m not making any bold predictions about participation after that first wave,” he said, “because a lot of what happens depends on the quality of play and time-of-possession-related things.”
The quarterback who relieves Roethlisberger shouldn’t be considered the front-runner for the No. 2 job, Tomlin said.
Dobbs said he hasn’t been told whether he or Rudolph will be the first quarterback off the bench.
“We’ll figure it out,” Dobbs said. “As the game plan goes, you never know how the games are going to shake out so you’ve gotta be ready to go.”
Dobbs started the preseason opener against Tampa Bay and played two series before yielding to Rudolph with 5 minutes, 33 seconds left in the first half. The roles were reversed in the second game against Kansas City. Rudolph started and played five series. Dobbs entered with 1:04 left in the half.
“You just play football,” Dobbs said. “You know they have a plan in place to get us prepared to play football and prepare us for all the situations which will occur for the quarterback position. You trust them, and when they tell you to, you go in and execute to the best of your ability.”
One departure from the first two preseason games will be in how Tomlin uses his kickers and punters. They no longer will rotate on an every-other-kick basis. Chris Boswell will kick in one half, and Matthew Wright the other. Same for punters Jordan Berry and Ian Berryman.
“We want to give them an opportunity to gain some rhythm and see how they are able to deliver when they are making back-to-back kicks or plays so in kicking and punting, we’ll divide the work up by halves,” Tomlin said.
Joe Rutter is a TribLive reporter who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since the 2016 season. A graduate of Greensburg Salem High School and Point Park, he is in his fifth decade covering sports for the Trib. He can be reached at jrutter@triblive.com.
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