If there's an NFL team not feeling sorry about the Steelers losing Ben Roethlisberger for the season, it's the Colts.
After all, they've had their share of seasons in recent years in which they've had to play without their starting quarterback. That includes this season, as the Colts had to deal with the abrupt retirement of Andrew Luck just a couple of weeks into training camp.
Fortunately enough for the Colts, they were in a similar situation two years ago, when Luck missed most of the season. That meant backup Jacoby Brissett, whom they had traded a second-round pick to the Patriots to acquire, got plenty of starting experience.
It's paid off this season, as Brissett has stepped into the lineup for the Colts (5-2) and they haven't missed a beat -- including winning their past three games. The Steelers (3-4) will try to slow the Colts' post-Luck good fortune with a backup quarterback of their own in Mason Rudolph when the two teams meet Sunday at Heinz Field.
At this point, neither can be considered a backup any longer.
"No one views him as a backup going in for a guy," Indianapolis coach Frank Reich said. "This is Jacoby's team."
The Steelers feel the same way about Rudolph, even though they feel good about Roethlisberger's chances to return next year. They still feel they can be a winning team despite having an inexperienced quarterback.
"You see it across the league, there are a lot of injuries this year. I always think it seems like the same every year, major injuries," guard David DeCastro told me. "There’s no excuses. Other teams found a way to win. The Saints won without (Drew) Brees. The Panthers have won without Cam Newton. It’s still a team sport, even though that position commands more respect. It makes it harder, but at the end of the day, you’re still able to win."
The Steelers, like the Colts, come into this game on a bit of a roll. They've won their past two games and three of their past four to help rebound from an 0-3 start.
A win in this game would put the Steelers back at 4-4 and perhaps signal to the rest of the league they are ready to overcome the loss of their star quarterback. And they learned some things about Rudolph in last week's 27-14 win over the Dolphins.
Rudolph was coming back from a concussion, having missed the team's previous game at Los Angeles against the Chargers. It took him some time to get warmed up to playing, as he completed just one of his first seven passes for 14 yards and an interception.
But once he got warmed back up to game speed, he was good.
"You never know how they’re going to respond when they come back," offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said. "Quite honestly, I was expecting maybe a little more subtleness early in that football game, but it makes sense. It does, and like I said, we grew through it and I was proud of him for that."
Likewise, Reich has been happy with how his team has responded to the retirement of Luck. Luck was coming back off an injury and didn't practice at all in the offseason.
That helped with the process.
"It was a real credit to the guys in the locker room that it was business as usual," Reich said. "On one hand, it was a shock and a surprise with the announcement. But Jacoby had gotten all of the reps in the offseason. At that point, it was business as usual. The guys handled it well and we moved on quickly."
The Steelers have handled not having Roethlisberger around, as well. They haven't complained about the situation. They've continued to fight and try to win, just like the Colts.
Indianapolis has seen every one of its games decided by a touchdown or less this season -- the only team to have done that to this point. The Steelers aren't far behind. While they have recorded blowout wins over the Bengals and Dolphins and were blown out themselves in their regular season opener at New England, the rest of their games have been decided by a touchdown or less.
The difference? While the Colts are 5-2 in those close games, the Steelers are 1-3.
That could just come down to the difference in experience of the two quarterbacks. While Brissett will be making his 25th career start (with a record of 10-14), this will be just the fifth time Rudolph will be getting the call. He's got a 2-2 record.
"How do you gain experience but through play?" said Mike Tomlin of Rudolph. "Particularly at the quarterback position, you don’t get to the position that he’s in unless you’re capable of smiling in the face of adversity. Often times guys are defined by how they handle success. I think handling failure and adversity is a natural thing for guys that make it to this level. So, really what’s going to write the story for him, and really a lot of young guys, is how did they deal with and absorb and grow through success?"
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