The Pittsburgh Steelers are rolling with QB Mason Rudolph at quarterback on Sunday despite Kenny Pickett being healthy enough to play. And while it’s a sign that Pickett has essentially lost his starting job, Rudolph said it is business as usual in the quarterback room.
“We talked, we met yesterday as a quarterback room and with the staff as we always do and talk about passing concepts we like. And there’s never been an awkward air. Those guys are dear friends and always professional. They know that I did nothing but support them and make them laugh as the three role in the last couple of years, so it’s just great to see that reciprocated. They’re all competitors and we all know that, but they’re all great dudes to go to work with,” Rudolph said via Steelers.com.
As all of Pittsburgh has heard by now, there was a story by Mark Madden yesterday that Pickett refused to dress as a backup to Rudolph, which Pickett came out and denied this morning.
Pickett said that health was the determining factor for why he didn’t dress Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, and Rudolph was able to put together a second-straight good performance and led Pittsburgh to a win on the road. After throwing for 564 yards and two touchdowns in back-to-back wins where Pittsburgh scored 30 or more points, the Steelers will turn to Rudolph again in their regular-season finale against the Ravens despite Pickett’s health not being a factor this week.
Pickett is a competitor, and I’m sure he wants to play. Same with Mitch Trubisky, who was demoted to the No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart after a shaky performance in back-to-back losses before Rudolph took over in Week 16. But as Rudolph said, he was there to support his teammates over the last season and a half when he was the third quarterback and not seeing the field on Sundays, and now it’s time for them to reciprocate that support, which it seems like they have. For his part, Pickett talked about supporting Rudolph and touched on the friendship among the quarterback room.
“We have a great friendship, truly. It’d been two years with Mitch and Mason and it’s been nothing but awesome coming in here everyday, sharing laughs, sharing memories. So when I would come to the sideline, we would talk, and now when he comes to the sidelines, we talk. I don’t overdo it, overstep, you want to give him information, you don’t want to give him too much where he’s thinking. He bounced ideas off me and I bounce ’em back and it’s good,” Pickett said in his media session today via Steelers Live on Twitter.
No one who wants to keep their job in the NFL is going to root against their teammates, and while I’m sure Pickett and Trubisky wish it was them leading the offense on Sunday, they’re going to continue to support Rudolph and hope he can lead the Steelers to a win and potential playoff appearance.
Rudolph also isn’t going to publicly throw his teammates under the bus, but I don’t get the impression there’s any real awkwardness. As Rudolph noted, these guys have been friends for the last two seasons, and Trubisky and Pickett are happy to see their friend succeed and lead the Steelers back into the playoff race. We’ll see if Rudolph can go 3-0 as a starter on Saturday against the Ravens.
