week, the Steelers gave a dominating performance against the Bengals. Rudolph threw for 229 yards and 2 TDs and the defense had 8 sacks and an interception. Rudolph was then injured in the following week's contest against the Baltimore Ravens after being hit by Ravens free safety Earl Thomas. Rudolph was ruled out with a concussion and Devlin Hodges replaced him for the remainder of the game. The Steelers went on to lose in overtime. Following the loss, RB Jaylen Samuels underwent Arthroscopic Knee Surgery which was rumored to hold him out for a month of the season. Devlin Hodges got his first career start in Los Angeles against the Chargers. Hodges threw for 132 yards and a touchdown during the game and the Steelers pulled out a much needed victory. During the game, the Steelers leading sacker, Stephon Tuitt, left the game with a pectoral injury. He was later ruled out for the season and placed on the IR. Despite the slow start to the season, Pittsburgh eventually climbed to an 8–5 record by week 14 thanks to a 7–1 run after the loss to Baltimore, but lost the last three games of the season to fall to 8–8, missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season. Following a 21–7 loss to the Cleveland Browns in week 11, which featured an ugly brawl that culminated with Browns defender Myles Garrett hitting Rudolph in the head with his own helmet, Rudolph and Hodges alternated games at quarterback to moderate success. However, the offense as a whole regressed without Rothlisberger, Brown and Bell. To the contrary, Pittsburgh's defense improved substantially in 2019. 2020: 11–0 start, slow finish, and COVID-19 Ben Roethlisberger returned from injury to begin the season, as the Steelers began the 2020 campaign with a Monday Night Football road win over the New York Giants in Week 1, then beat the Broncos and Texans at Heinz Field in the following weeks. The offense was coming together, and the defense was stout. In Week 4, they had a surprise bye week as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Tennessee Titans organization. Their match against Tennessee was moved to Week 7, forcing the Baltimore Ravens to push their bye week one week earlier for their contest with Pittsburgh in Week 8. When the Eagles came to Heinz Field in Week 5 for the first time since 2012, the Steelers