The last time Mason Rudolph started a game against Cleveland, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett ended up suspended for swinging the quarterback’s own helmet at his head following the game’s antepenultimate play.
Garrett was out for the rest of the 2019 season, and there have been no further incidents since his reinstatement for 2020.
Rudolph is slated to start against the Browns again on Sunday, as Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin plans to rest some starters for the postseason. Pittsburgh has already clinched the AFC North and will be the conference’s No. 2 or No. 3 seed.
On Wednesday, Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski — who wasn’t with the Browns last year — said he thinks Garrett and the team are well past the incident.
“We talk about maintaining our composure in every single game, it’s nothing new to this week,” Stefanski said, via video from Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re keeping the main thing the main thing and focusing on our work.”
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin seems to agree with Stefanski, saying Wednesday the incident is in the rearview mirror and he won’t address it with Rudolph.
Rudolph did play seven snaps late in Pittsburgh’s Week 6 blowout victory over the Browns this year, so it won’t be the first time the QB lines up against Cleveland since that infamous night. But it does add a layer of intrigue for a matchup that should determine whether the Browns clinch a postseason berth for the first time since 2002.