For the first time in decades, a quarterback other than Ben Roethlisberger will be starting a playoff game for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And as we all expected, that will be Mason Rudolph, who until recently had been the third-string quarterback for the past two years.
While he’s still officially second on the depth chart, he’s become number one in our hearts, as long as he keeps the Steelers winning. He has a tall task ahead of him against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, but for former NFL QB David Carr, he doesn’t want to see Pittsburgh dabbling in contingency plans this week with Kenny Pickett.
“It’s not something you really want to think about”, he said on NFL Total Access. “I really think that Mason has been the cog that makes this wheel go now. He’s really inserted himself and he’s played really effective football”, he added, particularly praising his deep ball.
“I think they’ve unlocked something with him. They’ve had a good running game, but Kenny has been a guy who’s taken the underneath, taken the short completion. It’s a different offensive system as well. Mason has been able to run this system with [quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan] over the last couple weeks, and I think that it’s a good fit, so I would caution against having a plan that was too concrete or even giving reps to another quarterback”.
Pickett, who started the first 12 games, missed several games after suffering an ankle injury. The first time that he dressed again was in the season finale as Rudolph’s backup. While he is still listed as the starter on the official depth chart, head coach Mike Tomlin already announced he would continue to ride the “hot hand” in Rudolph. And that’s what Carr wants to see them do.
“Let’s go all in. Let’s put the chips out there for Mason and let’s give him the best opportunity we can to be successful”, he said, “because I really think that [they can win] with this defensive unit, the way they’ve run the football, and the way that Mason’s able to diagnose what’s happening, find the one-on-ones”.
Indeed, if the run game plays as effectively as it has in many stretches over the second half of the year, and the defense is at its best, then Rudolph has proven more than capable of holding his own and doing what is necessary to engineer victory.
Which is certainly not what anybody was expecting going into the season, but then again, we have Joe Flacco starting a playoff game for the Cleveland Browns coming up as well. I will note, however, that for all the talk about backups, all the other 12 teams that made the postseason have their starters under center.
Since entering the lineup, Rudolph has gone 55-for-74 passing for 719 yards. He has thrown three touchdown passes to zero interceptions for a 118 quarterback rating, averaging 9.7 yards per pass attempt, with one game-winning drive. He did fumble the ball three times in his last game in a sloppy evening affair in Baltimore in heavy rain, but a go-ahead 71-yard touchdown pass didn’t hurt his cause.
