For as long as Mason Rudolph was with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the offensive coordinators were Randy Fichtner and Matt Canada. While Arthur Smith still has a lot to prove in this tenure with the Steelers, he has a much better track record than either of his two predecessors. In just one month of learning Smith’s system, Rudolph can already tell he is going to like it.
“He loves to run the ball,” Rudolph said via Kaboly + Mack on YouTube. “That’s his philosophy is pound it, play-action, and then he’s got a lot of similar dropback concepts we had in Tennessee that Brian [Callahan] brought from Cincinnati…Arthur’s more play-action, hunting chunks on the field, which is also something Mike T. loves. And then controlling the ball, running the ball, and obviously mixing of moving the pocket, naked bootlegs and then some drop back.
“I’ve enjoyed it, learning about what he wants to do, and I think it fits my game.”
When Rudolph was at his best with the Steelers, he was finding those chunk plays at the end of the 2023 season. During that three-game win streak, Rudolph completed 74.6 percent of his passing attempts for 716 yards and three touchdowns. That included 10 explosive passing plays of 20 yards or more. Five of those came in one game against the Seattle Seahawks as the Steelers won 30-24.
Russell Wilson had his moon balls, but Rudolph’s deep ball is arguably the best the Steelers have had since Ben Roethlisberger’s prime. He can push the ball down the field with plenty of velocity and impressive accuracy. Here is a beautiful completion up the sideline for George Pickens in 2023, via the Steelers account on X.
That bodes well for an offense that added DK Metcalf this offseason as one of the premier deep threats in the NFL.
As of right now, Rudolph is QB1 for the Steelers. Whether or not Aaron Rodgers signs will have an impact on that, but this has the potential to be the first time in Rudolph’s career that he enters a season as QB1. This also has a chance to be the best offense Rudolph has been a part of. If he could produce a 118.0 passer rating with an interim OC operating a dysfunctional Matt Canada offense behind a poor offensive line in 2023, it’s not unreasonable to believe he could be successful with the current circumstances in Pittsburgh.
Mike Tomlin expressed that they are confident in Rudolph as the starter if it comes down to that.
Even if Rodgers signs and ends up starting, history says Rudolph will end up getting to start at least a game or two. And I don’t think that would be a bad thing for the Steelers.
