Mike Tomlin repeated the line he said last week, pushing an aggressive mantra as the Pittsburgh Steelers rebuild their playoff hopes.
“Scared money don’t make money.”
To beat Seattle 30-23 on Sunday, the Steelers cashed in with an aggressive play call on the other side of the two-minute warning, QB Mason Rudolph hitting WR George Pickens on a slant for 24 yards. Picking up the first down was more important, taking up nearly all the time remaining as Pittsburgh never gave the ball back for Seattle to potentially tie things up.
After the game, Rudolph walked reporters through the call, thanking Mike Tomlin and the Steelers’ coaching staff for putting trust in him to make the game-sealing play.
“I think a lot of coaches and a lot of play callers wanna be conservative there and just run it out,” Rudolph said via Steelers.com after the game. “But we got a very aggressive head coach who I think he made that call at the end of the day. And so it paid off.”
Here’s a look at the play. Pittsburgh didn’t come out conservative, spreading the field and working out of shotgun. Rudolph hit Pickens on a slant, thrown behind but potentially intentionally so to avoid the path of the underneath linebacker, and Pickens made a good adjustment to stop his route and reach back for the ball. Making the grab and turning upfield, he netted about 14 yards after the catch before being tackled.
It was the same concept as Rudolph hit on his first throw a week ago, an 86-yard touchdown to Pickens, a slant/flat combination to beat man coverage. Rudolph admitted he thought the Seahawks were going to play a different and more aggressive and run-stopping defense. Instead, they were more conventional.
“I was a little nervous. I mean, I can’t lie,” he said. “I assumed that it would be in some sort of a zero or a press one-high look and figured George would win on the slant. He made big plays all day on third down and so did Diontae [Johnson].”
A solid call and good execution, the theme of the day. The Steelers put up 30 points in a win for the second straight week, something they hadn’t done in their previous 55 games. Situationally, the Steelers made plays and the offense looked fluid while controlling time of possession. They converted nearly half of their third downs, made seven red zone trips, and held the ball for more than 37 minutes while racking up 468 yards.
With another strong outing, Rudolph without question will be the Steelers’ starter in Sunday’s regular-season finale. And given the chance to close out the game, it’s likely coaches will trust him to make another winning play.
