Rudolph is locking on to one receiver too often. He's not fast, he doesn't have a big arm, and he's really fumble prone. On the other hand he's a leader and can be accurate with a nice touch on the deep ball. Overall, I'd say he's a back up.
But the question remains can we win Rudolph, the way we won with say Charlie Batch when he had to play? I'm not sure. What I am sure of is many rookie QB's and 2nd year QB's are getting better results, and indication that Rudolph isn't in their class.
If Rudolph struggles, do the Steelers dare play Hodges? IMO Hodges has the better arm, better legs, and seems just as accurate. In camp his accuracy was excellent. One writer said, Hodges 71.8% completion rate in camp was the highest he's seen in the six years he has tracked camp stats, and that includes six years with Ben. Impressive.
If the season is lost due to an 0-4 or 1-4 start, I want to find out if Hodges can play and to do that he needs to start a game or two. The question is does Tomlin have the stones or brains to do this?