Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin left the door open for Ben Roethlisberger to return for Week 11 but says the team will plan for Mason Rudolph to start.
Roethlisberger, who landed on the COVID-19 list Saturday, has a chance to play in the Sunday night bout against the Los Angeles Chargers if he's asymptomatic and produces two negative tests.
"We're going to build our plan around getting Mason ready to play," Tomlin said, according to ESPN's Brooke Pryor. "We're going to highlight his talents and skills relative to the opponents that we're intending to play. We're going to build that plan, work that plan."
Tomlin added that he'll "leave the light on" for a possible Roethlisberger return and is confident the veteran can handle the game plan if he's cleared due to the similar style of play between the two quarterbacks.
"There's not a lot of significant differences," Tomlin said. "It's not like Mason Rudolph runs a 4.4 and all of a sudden we're going to start doing some run-pass options and things of that nature."
He added: "It's not as significant a discussion as one would imagine. It's probably more likes and dislikes or feel-related things relative to the in-helmet perspective of the position."
Rudolph completed 60% of his passes for one touchdown to one interception in last Sunday's 16-16 tie with the Detroit Lions. The 26-year-old struggled with accuracy, though Pittsburgh's pass-catchers committed two costly fumbles in overtime.
The Steelers are also expected to be without Minkah Fitzpatrick for the matchup against the Chargers after placing him on the COVID-19 list Monday. Pittsburgh has won four of its last five en route to a 5-3-1 record.
