Pittsburgh Steelers team president Art Rooney II was a guest on SiriusXM NFL Radio ahead of the team’s Monday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals and during his short interview he talked some about quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph in addition to his thoughts on how the new pass interference review change has gone so far this season.
Rooney first offered up his thoughts on Rudolph ahead of the Monday night game against the Bengals.
“Mason’s a good person, good solid guy, a lot of confidence,” Rooney said of the Steelers second-year quarterback. “He’s got the kind of mental toughness you need for somebody to step into a situation like this. So, you know, he’s learning on the job, obviously, but I think he’s the kind of guy that if he makes a mistake, he’s not going to let it affect him. He’s going to keep coming.”
Rudolph has obviously taken over for Roethlisberger, who suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2. Roethlisberger has since had elbow surgery and on Monday night Rooney was asked to give an update on the quarterback.
“Yeah, Ben was at practice this week and he feels like it went well and he’s feeling good and obviously unfortunately he’s going to be out for the rest of the season,” Rooney said. “But he feels good about coming back next year and getting back at it.”
Rooney was also asked on Monday night to give his thoughts on the new rule change that allows plays to be challenged for pass interference. Not surprisingly, Rooney let it be known that he’s not a fan of the rule change ahead of the Steelers game against the Bengals.
“You know, it’s a mixed situation for us,” Rooney said. “I would say that, you know, it costs us a little bit in the Seattle game and so, you know, the jury’s still out in my mind whether I think this is a good idea or not.”
Rooney is obviously talking about the key play in the Steelers Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks that included an incompleted pass being challenged for pass interference that ultimately got overturned following official review.
Rooney had a little bit more to say about the current challenge system in the NFL.
“Nowadays with these high definition cameras, you can’t hide anything and so it gets tough,” Rooney said. “But, I mean, the bottom line is you have to have a replay situation that can be managed effectively in New York. And I think there is such a thing as too many replays and that’s what we have to worry about.”
I’m sure that Rooney wasn’t happy to see what ultimately happened with the challenge system Monday night against the Bengals as the Steelers lost out on a challenge of an offensive pass interference penalty that was called on wide receiver Johnny Holton early in that game. Even if Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin would have won that challenge, all that would have been gained is the reclaiming of penalty yards that were assessed on the play.
