The Pittsburgh Steelers punched their ticket to the Wild Card round of the AFC playoffs with a win over the Baltimore Ravens. They also received the necessary help with the Tennessee Titans defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars. This puts them in a Sunday afternoon Wild Card game against the Buffalo Bills.
Former NFL QB Brady Quinn offered his take on the matchup on the Two Pros and a Cup of Joe Podcast on Apple.
“I’ll be honest, if you’re gonna play one team in the AFC, I think it’d be the Steelers,” Quinn said. “Isn’t that the one team you’d probably wanna play offensively? You’re playing against probably a backup quarterback in Mason Rudolph. They have a hard time creating a lot of offensive output.”
The Bills and the Steelers are two of the teams entering the playoffs with the most momentum. The Bills have won five straight with basically every one of those games being a playoff game for them, while the Steelers have won their last three under similar circumstances. Those are the first- and third-longest win streaks entering the playoffs.
While the Steelers’ offense is triggered by a backup quarterback in Rudolph, the offensive output has been significantly better since he was inserted into the starting lineup three weeks ago. Two of his first three starts saw the offense score 30 or more points. The lack of output in the final game can hardly be blamed on Rudolph with miserable weather throughout against the league’s top defense. Prior to Rudolph starting, the offense was scoring 15.9 points per game over the first 14 games of the season. Since then, it has jumped all the way up to 27 points per game.
One of the big things that Rudolph has brought to the offense is explosive plays. In three games, he has completed nine passes of 20 yards or more. Three of those have gone for touchdowns and five of those have gone for over 40 yards. Thats the same number of 40-plus yard passes that Kenny Pickett had in 12 starts. This has opened up the running game for the Steelers, too.
Not to say that the Steelers aren’t the most defeatable team to go against, but using Rudolph as the reason why is probably misguided after three solid weeks. Quinn continued with a more valid concern for the Steelers, however, saying that Pittsburgh would be playing “without its best player.”
T.J. Watt is the Steelers’ 2023 team MVP and his likely absence from the first round of the playoffs is problematic. The defense has been a bend-don’t-break unit and that play style relies on splash plays and turnovers. There is no splashier player in the NFL than Watt, so that could spell trouble against Josh Allen and the Bills.
