The Pittsburgh Steelers will roll with QB Mason Rudolph this coming Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals should Kenny Pickett be not ready to go. Head coach Mike Tomlin stated in his press conference on Monday that the team is going to make a change at quarterback, going from Mitch Trubisky, who has struggled in his last two starts, to Rudolph as Pittsburgh attempts to stay afloat while Pickett is on the mend after having surgery on his ankle a few weeks ago.
Rudolph has only played a few snaps since 2021, being a game day inactive for most of last year while seeing his first action of the 2023 season last week against the Indianapolis Colts after Pittsburgh benched Trubisky late in the fourth quarter. Rudolph goes into Saturday’s context with just 18 games played and 10 starts since getting drafted in 2018, having been a backup for most of his NFL career.
However, Rudolph did start eight games while seeing action in 10 of them back in 2019 after QB Ben Roethlisberger injured his elbow in the second game of the season, knocking him out for the year. Rudolph and Duck Hodges held down the fort for Pittsburgh while Roethlisberger missed the season with Rudolph going 5-3 as a starter while throwing for 13 touchdowns and nine interceptions. His first win as a starter in the league actually came against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week Four of the season when Rudolph had possibly the best performance of his NFL career.
The Steelers defeated the Bengals in convincing fashion on Sept. 30 in 2019, winning 27-3 in Pittsburgh, giving them their first win of the season while dropping the Bengals to 0-4. Rudolph completed 24-0f-28 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns to zero interceptions. His 85.7 completion percentage is the highest mark in a single game of his career. His two touchdown passes tied his career high in a single game as well.
Rudolph threw for more yards in Week Eight against the Dolphins and Week 10 against the Rams, but his staying turnover-free was as a big reason for Pittsburgh’s convincing victory over a lowly Bengals squad that would go on to finish worst in the league and select QB Joe Burrow first overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. The dump-off passing game to the running backs worked well as RB James Conner led the team with eight receptions for 83 yards and a touchdown while RB Jaylen Samuels caught eight passes for 57 yards. Rookie WR Diontae Johnson was second on the team with 77 yards on six catches, snagging a touchdown from Rudolph as well in the contest.
The Bengals team that Pittsburgh will be facing this weekend is much better than the one Rudolph faced in 2019. Cincinnati is 8-6 while managing to rally around QB Jake Browning with Burrow out for the season with a wrist injury. Still, it’s interesting to see that Rudolph’s first win as a starting quarterback — and possibly his best performance overall from a productivity and ball security standpoint — came against the Bengals in Pittsburgh. The Steelers need a spark at quarterback as the position has underwhelmed this year, being a large component of them being where they are offensively. Tomlin is hoping Rudolph can provide that spark as the team is in desperation mode, needing to win out the rest of the way to have a shot of making the postseason.
