There is nothing like taking care of business during the regular National Football League season so you can storm into the playoffs with tremendous winds of momentum in your sails.
Even better, fill that fast-moving ship with a roster full of rested and healed-up star players.
That’s Plan A for most championship-grade teams in the NFL and it’s the one enjoyed this year by the Baltimore Ravens, who the Pittsburgh Steelers visit in their last regular season matchup.
Unfortunately, Pittsburgh is stuck with Plan B, just as has been the case for many recent years under Coach Mike Tomlin.
Plan B means you pretty much have to win out your last games and then watch a lot of television. You watch in desperation as you plead through the screen for other teams to win on your behalf, so you can shimmy into the playoffs.
It’s not the plan Steelers Nation would have wanted for their team, but it’s the one we got. Yes, we’re having to call an end-of-season audible once again, leaving us to be beggars and not choosers.
What should we make of all of this? Let’s give it a Spin.
The Rise And Fall…And Rise Again Of Mason Rudolph
One of the bright sunny moments in this shade-filled season for the Pittsburgh Steelers is the unlikely successful return to the starting quarterback role by Mason Rudolph.
It can’t be understated how remarkable his performances have been, considering how few in the organization believed in him. If they did, they wouldn’t have picked up Mitch Trubisky in free agency and then given the former Chicago Bear the pole position in earning the starting role.
They also wouldn’t have invested a first-round draft pick in Kenny Pickett if they were confident in either Trubisky or Rudolph as being the long-term solution in the Ben Roethlisberger succession plan.
Many would argue that Rudolph’s 34-11 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals and the subsequent 30-23 win over the Seattle Seahawks were two of his best games ever, and perhaps they were.
However, this should not erase from our memories how well Rudolph started off in his sophomore season, filling in for an injured Roethlisberger in 2019.
Many of us believed at the time the team had found their next-in-line to Big Ben.
That’s also the moment when the roof collapsed on Mason Rudolph’s career. Who could erase the horrific imagery in their minds of Myles Garrett pounding the Steelers quarterback on his bare head with his own forcibly removed helmet?
Mason was already having a poor day behind center against the Cleveland Browns, but he was embarrassed in full before a nationally televised audience by basically getting assaulted with a deadly weapon.
That was bad enough, but it was the fraudulent allegations Garrett made (saying Mason used a racial slur against him) in lamely trying to excuse his criminal behavior. It was this unfounded accusation that was the real cause of Mason essentially experiencing the equivalent of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Rudolph’s world was shaken, and he just wasn’t the same player when he returned back to the field of play. His confidence and on-the-field poise were shattered by the headlines.
Several of Rudolph’s teammates defended him on that fateful day when he was falsely accused, but in retrospect, not dramatically enough. They should have come out and slammed Garrett in the press. None of them chose to do so, and Rudolph was essentially left drifting in the winds of misplaced hate.
Fast forward to today, and Mason looks even stronger than he did in his ascending sophomore season, even despite long gaps between his starts and the fact his franchise didn’t believe in him.
In truth, Rudolph has some mobility in the pocket issues that he’ll have to overcome to be a quality NFL starting quarterback. But if his two recent games are any indication, he looks like he has discovered some key solutions while gathering deep splinters on the bench.
As far as comparisons with Kenny Pickett (who is decidedly more mobile), Rudolph’s arm is superior, as is the strength and height of his frame. Neither of them seems to have an advantage over the other in terms of their confidence on the field. They both believe.
This is all leading up to the point that moving forward both players should get equal consideration for potentially filling the role of the franchise quarterback of the future for this team. Rudolph is a young 28 (from playing sparingly), and Pickett is 25.
So far, it must be said, neither of them has been convincing that they are fully up to the task, but there is no reason that this Mason Rudolph 2.0 shouldn’t have an equal opportunity to compete to be “the guy” in 2024.
This is especially true if he has another strong performance on Saturday.
The Injured Starter Fallacy
According to reports, Kenny Pickett is healed enough from his ankle injury to be cleared to play against the Baltimore Ravens.
Sports folklore says he should be handed back the keys to the car. After all, “No one should lose their starting position due to injury,” the legend-holders say.
Well…whoever says that is wrong. That’s more myth than reality. The truth is that the “next man up” philosophy should include a partnering statement that is something like, “Finally, now is your chance to shine.”
This is because the NFL is one of the cruelest sports when it comes to competing for a starting position. Three players can be vying for the same role through a highly competitive preseason, with only one barely claiming the prize. Many times, these decisions have more to do with “pedigree” or “shiny new object syndrome” than they are a fair result of on-the-field performance.
Once that starter ekes out the nod, they get the lion’s share of the coaching, the reps, and it’s their face on the glossy covers of the team magazines.
The runner-up’s? They aren’t even second-place lions. They’re treated more like zebras. Here, can you hold this clipboard? Can you get the boys some Gatorade?
Nah. When that poor zebra finally gets a chance to take the field due to the lion having a thorn in his paw, he should also get the opportunity to win the job fair and square.
If that zebra, who has had fewer reps and much less coaching, goes out and outperforms the lion…well, it’s time for a new King of the Jungle. That should be the law of the land.
The Grind
Both of Pittsburgh’s latest back-to-back wins were impressive. The trouncing of the Bengals is always worthy of acclaim, especially if the drubbing is served up to a hometown audience.
Yet, it was the Seattle Seahawks victory that was the team’s peak moment of the year. The Seahawks are a well-coached team and needed the win as much as the Steelers did.
For Pittsburgh to come out and win in the way they did, in such difficult environs and with so much at stake, made this their best victory of the season.
Whereas the Bengals’ win benefitted from two rather freakish long plays by George Pickens, the Seahawks’ victory was earned the old-fashioned way. By grinding the opponent facedown into the turf.
This ground game featured the most devastating one-two punch of Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris the Steelers have experienced to date. The undrafted Warren is a clear fan favorite, and his unrelenting style of bounce and bursts was a feast for classic Steelers football fans.
Yet, Harris made it difficult to choose which of the runners had a better day. Harris pounded away himself, grabbing yards out of any available sunshine, and he literally willed his way across the end zone on two separate amazing scrum-shoving occasions.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the Steelers’ offensive line stepping up to the challenge themselves by consistently pile-driving their defensive counterparts.
Poor Seahawks middle linebacker Devin Bush. The last time linebackers could be seen being shoved back that deep into the secondary…was when he was playing for the Steelers.
Ravens Light
It may be surprising to hear, but the Baltimore Ravens will have a distinct advantage over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fact that many of their starters, including their uber-talented Lamar Jackson, will be having the day off.
If the Steelers take care of business early on and punch the backups in the mouths as they should, then they will be able to get out of town with their playoff hopes intact.
However, every few minutes that the Ravens are able to hang in there with Jackson cheering from the sidelines, that second-string “underdog vibe” advantage will start weighing heavily on Pittsburgh, and they’ll run the risk of getting embarrassed in their last game of the season.
Can the Steelers win this one, get lucky with results elsewhere, and then make a legitimate run in the playoffs?
There is an old saying that goes like this: “Fool me ten times, and shame on you.” Now, I might be off by a few shames here or there, but the sentiment is real.
Sure, we’ll cheer heartily and spin our towels, but Steelers Nation is going to be largely unmoved until this Tomlin-coached team wins a playoff game. And, in fact, it will probably take two wins to really clean out the shame on us bucket.
Until then, the jury on this season is out, hoping we don’t end up being down and out.
It’s Plan B or nothing for Steelers fans this season. That’s what soup is being served up again in the kitchen. So, get your ladle full and savor it the best you can.
As tasty as it might end up being, it won’t keep us from hoping they give Plan A a more serious run next year.
