Whatever the future holds for him, Pittsburgh Steelers QB Mason Rudolph knows that at least he will have had an opportunity to start a postseason game. And he’s hoping to have at least a few more weeks before he has to start thinking about that future.
Thrust into the starting lineup a few weeks back when the offense needed a spark with an underperforming backup QB Mitch Trubisky, Rudolph has elevated the level of play for the unit for the past three weeks and put them in position to make the postseason after it seemed they’d let the opportunity slip through their grasp.
Going into his sixth season and hitting free agency for the first time, he found no takers before the Steelers called up after the draft and offered him a one-year contract, reportedly having been told that there would be no competition—he was to be the third quarterback behind Kenny Pickett and Trubisky. Well, now he’s ahead of both, and all he’s worried about for now is the next game.
“I’m definitely appreciative of getting the opportunity to play”, he said on the DVE Morning Show on Friday. “I think it’ll be, hopefully not for a few more weeks, February or so, [before I have a chance] to sit back and reminisce or smell roses”.
One would hope, of course, because that means the Steelers are advancing in the postseason. They haven’t made it to the second round of the playoffs since 2017, and that was only because they had a bye week back when the second seed still got one.
Rudolph is the first quarterback to start a playoff game for the Steelers other than Ben Roethlisberger since Tommy Maddox in 2003. He can also become the first Steelers quarterback other than Roethlisberger to win a postseason game since then, two decades ago. He and they believe that they can do it.
“We’ve got opportunities. There are some players around the league who’ve never made it to the playoffs once in their career”, he pointed out. “We know what an opportunity we have on Sunday. We’re not taking it for granted. We know it’s a great team, but we’re highly confident in ourselves”.
The Steelers’ opponent is the Buffalo Bills, a team that would be seeded lower than them had they not beaten the Miami Dolphins in the final week of the season, thus finishing the season with one more win.
The weather is expected to be less than ideal for a high-scoring affair, a state of emergency being issued by New York.
Rudolph has the support of his former teammates, particularly is former offensive linemen, such as Maurkice Pouncey and Alejandro Villanueva, both of whom have expressed those sentiments publicly. After failing to play at all in 2022 and contemplating his future in the NFL, he could be contemplating which contract in March will give him the best chance to compete for a starting job, and in which city. Beating the Bills would certainly improve the chances of that substantially.
