Thanks to some help from the Tennessee Titans, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in the postseason after a rather wild ride in the 2023 season.
Entering the AFC playoffs as the No. 7 seed, hitting the road to take on the No. 2-seeded Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round Sunday at 1 p.m., the Steelers are quite an interesting team. Winning three straight games down the stretch, they ran the ball at will against teams and got a jolt from backup quarterback Mason Rudolph after being inserted into the lineup against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Things seem slightly stacked against the Steelers entering the Wild Card matchup against the Bills, but for ESPN.com, there is reason for hope.
That reason? Mason Rudolph.
“QB Mason Rudolph. Yes, you read that right. Once the scapegoat and punchline in Pittsburgh, Rudolph’s resurgence over the season’s final three weeks has the Steelers back in the playoffs,” ESPN’s Brooke Pryor writes regarding a reason for hope for the Steelers. “His willingness to throw the deep ball — and success doing it — has opened up the offense and led to a balanced attack. Under Rudolph, the Steelers’ offense scored more than 30 points in back-to-back games (Weeks 16-17) for the first time since Weeks 5-6 of the 2020 season.”
At one point, Rudolph was a major scapegoat for the Steelers, one fans and media alike didn’t care for due to his play on the field at times earlier in his career. It was unthinkable that Rudolph would even return to Pittsburgh for the 2023 season as a free agent after spending all of 2022 as the No. 3 quarterback and not exactly getting a fair shot at the starting job that summer.
But then he surprised everyone, signing a one-year deal in May to return to the Steelers. He was the No. 3 quarterback for much of the season and didn’t see many reps, but then with the season on the line and the Steelers not pleased with the play of Mitch Trubisky in place of the injured Kenny Pickett, head coach Mike Tomlin turned to Rudolph.
He took advantage of the opportunity.
In his three starts, the Steelers went 3-0. In the first two starts for the Steelers in Week 16 against the Bengals and Week 17 on the road against the Seattle Seahawks, Rudolph led the Steelers to scoring outputs of 34 and 30 points. Then, in Week 18 in awful conditions against the Baltimore Ravens, Rudolph led the Steelers to 17 points, hitting wide receiver Diontae Johnson for a 71-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to give the Steelers a lead they’d never relinquish.
Now, Rudolph did have some sloppy play against the Ravens, holding onto the football too long in the pocket once, leading to a strip-sack, and then dropping a shotgun snap in the rain.
But entering the postseason, there is no debate who should be the quarterback for the Steelers against the Bills. It’s Rudolph. The Steelers have very clearly responded to him and his leadership. Pittsburgh is playing its best ball in quite awhile offensively. They are hitting big plays down the field in the passing game, too, which is opening things up in the run game for Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.
We’ll see if Rudolph can put together a strong performance once again, this time in the playoffs. Should he be able to against Buffalo, the Steelers’ offense should be able to move the football consistently and put up points. If that happens, it’ll be anyone’s game.
Mason Rudolph and hope for the Steelers in the playoffs. Two things that weren’t expected to be typed this season — or ever.
