Mason Rudolph’s unlikely renaissance will continue into the playoffs.

Coach Mike Tomlin said he is sticking with the former third-string quarterback ahead of a trip to AFC East champion Buffalo (11-6) on Sunday.

Rudolph is 3-0 as a starter since taking over for an ineffective Mitch Trubisky before a game against Cincinnati on Dec. 23. While starter Kenny Pickett has fully recovered from right ankle surgery in early December, Tomlin doesn’t want to chance derailing the rhythm Pittsburgh’s offense has found under Rudolph.

The Steelers (10-7) have averaged 27 points since Rudolph took over, a full 10 points more than they had been averaging during a sometimes rocky season that included a 1-4 stretch from mid-November to mid-December that dropped Pittsburgh out of playoff position.

“We’re simply staying with the hot hand and not disrupting the apple cart,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “We’ve been in some tough circumstances. He’s delivered, we’ve delivered.”

• Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick missed the final three games of the regular season with a knee injury, but Tomlin is optimistic that he will return for the AFC wild-card game against the Bills on Sunday.

Fitzpatrick was injured in the Dec. 16 game against the Colts in Indianapolis. He was listed as questionable for the regular-season finale against the Ravens but did not play in the game.

Fitzpatrick’s expected return, as well as getting Damontae Kazee  back from a three-game suspension, creates a bit of a logjam at the safety position. The Steelers went 3-0 and made the playoffs with Eric Rowe and Patrick Peterson as their starting safeties. When asked how he’ll balance the safety rotation on Sunday, Tomlin said: “Thoughtfully.”

JAGUARS: Jacksonville Coach Doug Pederson has fired nine assistants in total, including running backs coach Bernie Parmalee.

Parmalee’s exit was announced, a day after Pederson dismissed defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell and seven of his assistants on that side of the ball. Pederson also declined to renew the expiring contract of assistant offensive line coach Todd Washington.

The moves came after the biggest late-season collapse in franchise history. The Jaguars were 8-3 and atop the AFC South in late November before losing five of six games down the stretch and missing the playoffs.

DOLPHINS: Miami signed veteran linebackers Justin Houston and Bruce Irvin and placed three more players on injured reserve.

Houston and Irvin are expected to add depth to a linebacker group that has been decimated by injuries, as Jerome Baker, Cameron Goode and Andrew Van Ginkel have all gone down in the past week.

Miami is preparing for its wild-card game at Kansas City on Saturday night.

BROWNS: Kicker Dustin Hopkins is expected to sit out Saturday’s wild-card playoff game at Houston with a hamstring injury he sustained while chasing a kick returner in Cleveland’s win over the Texans on Dec. 24.

BRONCOS: Maybe Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos aren’t headed for a nasty, costly divorce, after all. That was the main message from Coach Sean Payton, General Manager George Paton and team owner and CEO Greg Penner at the Broncos’ season-ending news conference.

While the head coach said he hasn’t made up his mind about the direction the Broncos will take at quarterback because he won’t begin his player evaluations until next week, Denver’s GM said the “door is open” to a reconciliation that would keep Wilson in Denver and added that Wilson has indicated to him that “he’s open to returning.”

The Broncos (8-9) benched Wilson for their final two games and Jarrett Stidham went 1-1 with a pair of middling performances.

COLTS: Owner Jim Irsay is being treated for a severe respiratory illness, team officials said Tuesday.

The announcement comes three days after Indy (9-8) was eliminated from playoff contention with a 23-19 loss to the Houston Texans.

The 64-year-old Irsay began running the team’s day-to-day operations in 1995 after his father, Robert, suffered a stroke. When his father died in 1997, he won a legal battle with his stepmother to keep the franchise.