The Pittsburgh Steelers are now into the regular season, in which they entered with big aspirations, in spite of a tumultuous start to the offseason. Significant players were lost via trade and free agency, players who have helped shape the course of the franchise in recent years. We even now sit here without Ben Roethlisberger after just two games.
The team made some bold moves this offseason and in some areas of the roster look quite a bit different than they did a year ago. That would especially be the case at wide receiver and inside linebacker, where they have new starters. And quarterback was suddenly added to that list.
How will the season progress without Roethlisberger, behind Mason Rudolph? How will the young players advance into their expected roles? Will the new coaches be up to the task? Who is looking good in games? Who is sitting out due to injury?
These are the sorts of questions among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked, though there is rarely a concrete answer, as I’ve learned in my years of doing this.
Question: Where is Mason Rudolph currently relative to the concussion protocol?
Since the Steelers are a on a bye week, information is less forthcoming, for obvious reasons. There was no Tuesday with Mike Tomlin, when we chiefly get our most significant updates. Now there is some confusion as to where second-year quarterback Mason Rudolph stands in the concussion protocol.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that he had been cleared from the concussion protocol and wanted to play in Sunday’s game. Yesterday, according to other reporters, Burt Lauten informed them that Rudolph remained in the concussion protocol, and thus he is not permitted to speak to the media.
From the sounds of it, he is not yet fully cleared, though obviously appearances indicate that he is close. He practiced all of last week on a limited basis and even traveled with the team to the west coast, though of course he was inactive for the game.
Whether or not he is cleared, the hope remains that he will be available for the Steelers next Sunday after they get off their bye week. The team did win their last game with Devlin Hodges starting, though there was nothing remarkable about the undrafted rookie’s performance, and there should be no quarterback controversy between the backup and the backup to the backup.
