With a decisive win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday behind the efforts of QB Mason Rudolph, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a quarterback controversy on their hands. QB Kenny Pickett has sat out the last three weeks following a high ankle sprain that required surgery to expedite the healing process. Pickett was limited in practice most of last week, but figures to have a good shot at returning against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 17.
On the Around The NFL Podcast posted on YouTube, Gregg Rosenthal gave his two cents on who should get the start.
“I did like how much Alex Highsmith, his teammate, was gassing him up,” Rosenthal said. “The players I think like Mason Rudolph and they were all but saying don’t go back to Kenny Pickett, and I kind of don’t think they will. I think they’ll give Rudolph another try.”
This is bound to be the dominant take this week after the Steelers’ offense had its best performance of the season in Rudolph’s first start. They put up more yards against the Bengals last time, but only managed 16 points. This time, they had slightly less overall yards, but they scored 34 points. Rudolph threw the ball 27 times, completing 17 of them for 290 yards and two touchdowns. He was smart with the football and didn’t make any big errors other than a deep miss to Diontae Johnson when the game was already well out of reach for the Bengals.
There are a few things to consider when making this decision. In a vacuum, it seems obvious to roll with Rudolph and see if he can build off the performance, but benching a first-round quarterback usually spells trouble for their future. Pickett got less than one-and-a-half games without Matt Canada as his offensive coordinator before the ankle injury. During that time, he completed 31-of-43 passes for 348 yards, no scores, and no interceptions. The arrow was pointing up for Pickett without Canada calling the offense.
If the Steelers have any faith remaining in Pickett, they have to start him when healthy. Omar Kahn and Mike Tomlin need all the looks they can get at Pickett to determine their path in the offseason and beyond. Pickett also seems to be Tomlin’s guy as he often cites football justice as a reason why Pickett will eventually be successful. Of course, they could spin it and use the injury as an excuse for getting Rudolph one more start, but three limited practices last week and a bunch of social media videos of Pickett throwing will make that difficult to do.
You can check out a more fleshed out debate on who the Steelers will start between Alex Kozora and Jonathan Heitritter here:
