One could hardly have expected more from Pittsburgh Steelers QB Mason Rudolph. Completing 75 percent of his passes for 274 yards and averaging 11.4 yards per pass attempt, he finished Sunday’s game with a 112.2 quarterback rating. While he didn’t throw a touchdown (or an interception), he led three touchdown drives and six scoring drives in all on eight competitive possessions. They punted just once.
Yet there is one play that Rudolph allowed himself to second-guess somewhat. It was the play on 3rd and goal from the three-yard line just before a Chris Boswell field goal made it a 30-20 margin.
The Steelers had run the ball on first and second down to net two yards before putting it in Rudolph’s hands. Looking for a pop pass off play-action, he decided to throw the ball away fairly quickly rather than risk putting it in harm’s way. Yet he knows he could have potentially put it into play.
“You know what, the play-action pass in the red zone to kind of ice the game, would’ve made it a 14-point game”, he said, via the team’s website, when asked about if he consistently put the ball where he wanted it. “I thought I probably could’ve put it on Allen Robinson’s back shoulder to make it a true two-touchdown game”.
Lined up out of 11 personnel but tight on the line, Robinson was the sole eligible to the right side. WRs George Pickens and Miles Boykin were off to the left, Boykin backset inside, and TE Darnell Washington inside shaded off LT Dan Moore Jr., RB Jaylen Warren seven yards deep with Rudolph under center.
They employed play action in the hopes of firing off a quick pass, and truth be told, had he seen it quickly and gotten the ball out in a hurry, he probably could have hit Robinson for the touchdown. Instead, he intentionally airmailed it to put it out of play, settling for the virtual sure thing of a three-point chip-shot field goal.
“I threw that one over his head, but I guess that’s because I’m a little conservative at heart and I’d rather be safe than sorry”, Rudolph said. And that’s one of the qualities that helped put him over Mitch Trubisky these past two games. He hasn’t thrown an interception through two complete starts. Off the top of my head, I struggle to recall a ball that had even been in harm’s way.
Despite that “conservative” approach, he’s still managed to sling it for 564 yards over the past two weeks with two touchdowns. The offense has put up over 850 yards and more than 60 points combined in those two games, so something is working.
In a scenario in which there is under five minutes to play in a seven-point game, on 3rd and goal from the 3 on the road in a hostile environment, it does make sense to play it conservatively. A field goal still makes it a two-possession game, even if it’s not two full touchdowns.
Still, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have hit that for a score. Perhaps the only genuine blemish in his game was missing Warren in the flat on the play on which he took a sack in field goal range in the first half. But beyond perhaps these two plays, it’s difficult to find fault in his second start of the 2023 season, which all but ensured that he would be getting a third.
