Winning in the North: The Steelers did exactly what they had to do on Sunday, coming out and playing aggressively on defense and making key plays on offense to come away with a 34-12 win over the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium.
The win improved the Steelers record to 6-4 as they maintain first place in the AFC North.
"Appreciative of the efforts," said Coach Mike Tomlin. "I thought we certainly fought hard. We played hard. In some instances, we could have played smarter, so there's individual and collective learning that needs to happen in some of those instances, but that's life.
"It's good to learn with the win. It was a big AFC North win for us.
"I can't say enough about the collective effort. It certainly wasn't ideal. We got challenged in a lot of ways, but you're going to get challenged in the National Football League.
"It's just good to get a win and get back on the right side of things coming off of a poor performance and obviously a loss the last time we saw these guys. It's doubly satisfying from that perspective."
After the game Tomlin said quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a left wrist injury as he was replaced at halftime by Mason Rudolph. Rudolph completed 12 of 16 passes for 127 yards and one touchdown.
"Mason has proven in the past what he showed today," said Tomlin. "That's why we value him as a member of this collective. Appreciative of his play.
"He's always delivered when called upon in the past. That's why we value him. His performance was consistent with what he's done in the past for us. Not that we take it for granted. We don't. We appreciate it.
"Mason has played a lot of football in this league. We might lean into things that are more in his wheelhouse, but it wasn't because of lack of play."
Running back Kenny Gainwell led the team with seven receptions for 81 yards and two touchdown receptions, as well as nine carries for 24 yards.
"Certainly, Kenny Gainwell made play after play for us, winning in the flat and so forth," said Tomlin. "I think he also made a tackle on kickoff.
"I value him as a football player. We saw a lot of that on his Philadelphia tape. He's good in a lot of areas, including special teams.
"So, we just respect what he brings to the table."
There were a lot of big plays on the defensive side, from safety Kyle Dugger returning an interception
Cornerback James Pierre finished the game with six tackles, two passes defensed and a fumble recovery for a touchdown as he stepped in and started for the injured Darius Slay.
"He's grown throughout the years," said Tomlin. "He's gotten better with each and every year he's been here with his roles and his ability to respond to opportunity and so forth.
"There's a veteran high level of consistency that we're seeing right now. That's why I talked about him the way I talked about him on Tuesday."
This is home: Football is a game where you never know when your opportunity might arise, and that was the case for quarterback Mason Rudolph on Sunday.
Starter Aaron Rodgers suffered a left wrist injury in the first half, and it was Rudolph who would take over in the second half.
"You never know when it's going to come, but you always have little jitters first time going back all year," said Rudolph, who only saw very limited action against the Seahawks in Week 2. "When we're running the ball the way we were and then a couple guys made a couple nice plays on third and extra long, Darnell (Washington) on that check-down, Kenny (Gainwell) on that kind of flare route, two touchdowns right when we needed it the most was huge.
"We ran the ball really well. I barely got touched. So, offensive line, hats off to them. It was a lot of fun."
Rudolph said he learned he was going into the game during halftime from Rodgers.
"I saw what you guys saw, which was Aaron kind of go down, gingerly a little bit, but I wasn't sure the severity, and I'm still really not sure, either," said Rudolph. "We talked in the locker room, and he said, 'hey, you're going.'
"We appreciate (offensive coordinator) Arthur Smith and (quarterbacks coach) Tom (Arth) working with me to get to the stuff that I like in the game plan and tailoring it to kind of my favorites. That's how it went."
Rudolph completed 12 passes for 127 yards and a touchdown, doing exactly what was needed and asked of him.
"We won, and that's the only objective," said Rudolph. "I thought once I settled down a little bit…I had a couple errant ones early, but just tried to get it to our guys. They played a lot of soft one I-zone, so weren't letting a whole lot of stuff go over the middle.
"I thought our run after the catch was huge. From Darnell, running over people on third and 12 or 15, to Kenny. It was a lot of fun."
Coach Mike Tomlin said there is a calmness when putting in a player like Rudolph, who is familiar with the Steelers offense. Rudolph, who spent his first four seasons with the Steelers, before playing for the Tennessee Titans in 2024, agreed that familiarity breeds comfort.
"I really was thankful for the opportunity that I had last year in Tennessee, the way things worked out, to get a different perspective on football," said Rudolph. "But coming back here, just so much comfortability from the people that you see in the tunnel that work the security, the friendly faces there on the field, Joseph Maroon, one of the doctors. It really feels like home, some of the great relationships.
"It's very comfortable to come back in, and you just know where everything is. You've won games here, and that gives you confidence.
"I love playing here. This is where I was drafted, and this is home. Yeah, very special."
Playing Steelers football: The Steelers defense held the Bengals to under 300 total yards of offense en route to a 34-12 win, while playing the style of football they know they are capable of.
"Everybody in the building, we know what we're capable of," said linebacker Nick Herbig. "We know what we have to do. It's just a matter of going out and doing it.
"So, obviously it feels good to get a win, but there's still a lot of work to be done.
"We just played our game, our brand of football. We played Steelers football. We didn't have all the turnovers necessarily that our culture is, but we had two touchdowns, which that's instrumental, huge in the win.
"Just getting back to our roots, doing what we do, and playing Steelers football."
The defense got back to those roots thanks to the impact of multiple players who are a combination of new to the roster or stepping in to the next man up role.
One such is safety Kyle Dugger, who was acquired via a trade with the New England Patriots on Oct. 30.
Dugger intercepted Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco and returned it 73 yards for a touchdown.
Another key play came from cornerback James Pierre, who was starting for Darius Slay, who is in the concussion protocol.
"Those guys are ballers," said Herbig. "JP, Brandon Echols, he's a dawg, too. Dugger, he's a dawg. All those boys are dawgs. They come in whenever their number is called, they just come in and keep making plays, consistently showing up on film playing Steelers football. You love to see that.
"Coach (Mike Tomlin), he always says, 'The standard is the standard,' regardless of who is in the game. It's the next-man-up mentality, and those guys exemplify that to the highest level.
"(Dugger), that dude has made a career out of being the next-man-up mentality. He is from Lenoir-Rhyne. To be able to do what he's done and have the career he's had so far, that doesn't just happen.
"There's work that is put in behind the scenes that people don't see. That dude has put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to be where he's at today, so no surprise at all."
Bringing you the action: For fans who don't want to miss any of the action, NFL+ is here, which means you can now watch the Steelers live and on the go! Watch live local and primetime regular season games on mobile, plus NFL RedZone, NFL Network, live audio and more - all in one place.
