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Ben Roethlisberger leaves with elbow injury, Mason Rudolph finishes second half in Steelers defeat

As if the Pittsburgh Steelers’ start to the season wasn’t rocky enough, they played the second half of their game Sunday with Mason Rudolph at quarterback.

Ben Roethlisberger exited late in the first half with what the Steelers announced as an elbow injury. He went back to the locker room before halftime, and Rudolph finished the game at QB, a contest the Steelers lost, 28-26, to fall 0-2 on the season.

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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) is sacked by Seattle Seahawks defensive end Rasheem Green (98) and Jadeveon Clowney/ (AP)
Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger is sacked by Seattle defensive end Rasheem Green (98) and Jadeveon Clowney. (AP)

Rudolph’s first pass of the second half was incomplete. It was also the first pass of his career. His second attempt went through Donte Moncrief’s hands and was intercepted. The Seahawks scored to take a 14-10 lead right after that turnover.

He settled down to finish 12 of 19 for 112 yards and two touchdowns in Pittsburgh’s close defeat. At one point, the Steelers trailed only 21-19 with 11:16 left in the game after Rudolph hit Vance McDonald with an 8-yard TD pass.

When the Steelers drafted Rudolph, Roethlisberger wasn’t impressed because he wanted a player who could help Pittsburgh right away. Rudolph didn’t play as a rookie, but he was in a key spot on Sunday afternoon due to Roethlisberger’s injury.

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

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