Saturday’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals came from several unlikely sources. Players either were far away from the starting lineup or names that weren’t even on the team. Safety Eric Rowe picking off a pass in his first Steelers game. Linebacker Myles Jack coming off the couch to step in for the injured Elandon Roberts. And of course, Mason Rudolph starting his first game in more than two years and putting up the best performance by a Steelers QB in several seasons.
On the latest edition of his Not Just Football podcast, Heyward said he was proud of Rudolph’s effort, giving him a game ball afterwards.
“I just asked Coach T if I could give him the ball,” Heyward said. “Simple as that. Sometimes it’s just leaders thinking their guy is very worthy of a game ball. We don’t usually do a game ball often. But I just thought in that moment, you’re thankful for his contributions. Because it could’ve gone one of two ways. For Mason to go out there and battle back, thought it was pretty special.”
The “one of two ways” was Rudolph either having the type of game he did, 290 passing yards and two touchdowns, or he could’ve played like someone who hadn’t seen the field in years. After the game, Rudolph even admitted that if he didn’t play winning football, he probably wouldn’t have gotten another chance in the NFL.
Now, he’ll likely get an encore performance. Though not cemented as the starter for Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, Mike Tomlin announced Rudolph will get the starting reps to begin the week of practice while QB Kenny Pickett continues to recover from his ankle surgery.
Odds are high Rudolph will ultimately get the nod in a must-win game against the Seahawks. If Rudolph can repeat his performance in play and outcome, he’ll almost certainly get a chance to finish the season as a starter the in Week 18 finale against the Baltimore Ravens.
Check out the whole episode below.
