Late in a November 2019 matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns on Thursday Night Football, things took a nasty turn as Browns’ defensive end Myles Garrett clubbed Steelers’ quarterback Mason Rudolph over the head with the quarterback’s own helmet, setting off an awful fight on the field.
Following the ugly incident, Garrett alleged that Rudolph used a racial slur, leading to the swinging of the helmet.
It was a tough situation for the teams, players and the NFL to be in as a he-said, she-said on the field of play regarding an alleged racial slur being used. Rudolph, unfairly, was labeled by the incident.
But one person had real courage to stand up and defend Rudolph — a person with a great standing in the league whose voice carries weight.
Head coach Mike Tomlin.
Following the incident and the alleged racial slur, Tomlin stood by Rudolph and defended him, ripping into Garrett. Tomlin said he was “hacked off” by Garrett’s accusation made during an interview with ESPN on Outside The Lines following his 10-game suspension.
“It was a thorough investigation done by us and the National Football League. I don’t think that that was represented during that piece. These accusations are serious, not only in terms of Mason Rudolph’s character, but his professional pursuits,” Tomlin said in response to Garrett’s accusations. “Nobody on that field as a member of the Cleveland Browns or the Pittsburgh Steelers corroborated what was said by Myles Garrett. That was founded by us and the National Football League and at no point during that piece this weekend that was stated.”
The NFL did investigate Garrett’s accusations, but as Tomlin stated, the league found nothing to corroborate Garrett’s comments about Rudolph allegedly using a racial slur.
For Garrett to go public with the accusation on ESPN during a sit-down interview was reckless, especially after he never said a word about any racial slur during media interviews directly after the game.
That’s largely what “hacked off” Tomlin and the Steelers, and caused Tomlin to come out so strongly against Garrett’s comments in defense of his quarterback.
“I’ve got a lot of personal relationships within that organization over there in Cleveland. At no point did anyone within that organization come forward and say, ‘Mike, heads up, we’ve got a situation here,’ or something to that nature that you would expect that comes with those type of allegations. So, I fully support Mason Rudolph,” Tomlin added during his own interview with ESPN on First Take with Stephen A. Smith back in 2019. “We as an organization fully support Mason Rudolph. And to be quite honest with you, we were hacked off with what we saw this weekend. Not specifically from Myles Garrett, he’s been in the lane that he’s in, but what was displayed by ESPN in that panel. The way that the situation was presented, I don’t think was fair to Mason Rudolph and that’s why I’m here today.”
That support went a long way, not only for the Steelers’ organization and Tomlin’s reputation overall, but for Rudolph, too.
For ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, speaking during an appearance on the “Two on OSU” podcast to discuss Rudolph and his future in the NFL, that show of support from Tomlin helped save Rudolph’s career in the NFL, whether that’s in Pittsburgh or elsewhere.
“I think that Mike Tomlin very much has had Mason’s back through the Myles Garrett stuff coming out pretty immediately and saying that what was being alleged by Myles Garrett, that there was a racial slur that was used was not true,” Pryor said regarding Tomlin having Rudolph’s back. “Rudolph’s career could have tanked right then and there. He could have never had another shot in the NFL if the Steelers organization didn’t stand behind him there.”
That seems a bit over the top from Pryor, but there might be some truth to it.
At that point in his career, Rudolph was a very polarizing figure. After taking over for Ben Roethlisberger following his season-ending injury early in the 2019 season, Rudolph really struggled on the field and was ultimately benched for Duck Hodges that season, just one week after the Garrett situation.
Things could have turned quite ugly for Rudolph after that season if he wasn’t supported by the Steelers’ organization, especially Tomlin and some of his teammates. But having the public support in an emphatic way from Tomlin carried weight.
If that would not have happened, Rudolph’s career might have ended prematurely.
