Dulac: Steelers Appear To Have Some ‘Internal Division’ Regarding Starting QB

More touchdowns. Fewer interceptions. Third in the Heisman Trophy voting. Those are legitimate arguments. You are welcome to disagree with them, but to characterize them the way you did was, at best, dishonest.

Also, you are lying when you claim that I engaged in name-calling. I did refer to your ignorance, but that is simply pointing out your lack of knowledge about Pickett's final season at Pitt. If you don't want me to refer to you posting from a position of ignorance, educate yourself before your next post. I keep trying to educate you, but it doesn't seem to work. I guess it's another example of why virtual learning doesn't work for most people.

 

You could make the argument that Pickett needed to be in the right system, too. He was stuck with multiple changes at OC while he was at Pitt. Both players were mediocre until their final year of college ball. They seemed destined to be Day 3 draft picks before monster final seasons.

 

You are sort of proving why liberal arts major just lack logical thinking. I bet you were bad at math. The fact is I have proven you wrong with facts (in this case your assertion that based on facts that Pickett had a better final year than Mason. One measure that takes everything into account is QB rating and Mason had a higher rating the year Pickett had his best year. The other years weren’t even close and in favor of Mason.. When you are comparing two Qb’s and one had 4 good years and the other had just one good year, you will definitely prefer the one with history of good years ( Mason also had a stellar high school career). I have also been right in predicting that Mason would do better than Trubisky or Pickett. All you can come up with is a weak ‘educate’ yourself. The education system in this country in shambles… and I can sort of understand why. Logical thinking is absent in most of the educators.

 

Here we go again, someone pointing to Smith's problems in Atlanta as to what he did as Head coach. Talk to me about what you think he did wrong in Tennesse as offensive coordinator.

 

Critical thinking is even more absent.

 

I've stated before that one reason Mason was demoted to 3rd string was because they knew it was a matter of time before Kenny would overtake Mitch on the depth chart after gifting Mitch the QB1 spot. The concern was Mason being a different style of QB would cause a controversy. The last 3 games of the season gave them no choice but to opt for Mason after Mitch's disastrous outings. Had Kenny been ready to come back before switching to Mason, there was no question. I've ready in a previous article, which I'm still unable to locate, this was the concern during the 2022 season since they were high on getting Kenny in the lineup. While the Steeler organization is still hopeful and waiting for what Mason will do, this may now play another role in protecting Kenny's ego should they allow Mason to slip away.

 

That's Superbowl Champion, Trent Dilfer.

 

one difference was one won a national championship and hit the ground running in the nfl. One didn't.

 

correct - the Browns DEFENSE failed the Browns and Flacco.

 

I wasn't a liberal arts major. Perhaps you meant humanities, which isn't the same thing, but using the English language properly seems to be a struggle for you.

No, you haven't proven me wrong with facts. Quarterback rating is imperfect at best. That is why there is more than one type of quarterback rating out there, because not everybody agrees that it measures quarterback performance properly. One complaint I've heard is that it overrated yards per attempt.

When comparing quarterbacks, you also look at their physical tools. Rudolph is taller, but not nearly as athletic. Despite claims to the contrary, he does not have a stronger arm. He has shown difficulty on deep outs in the past, which is a far better measure of a quarterback's arm strength than a deep pass.

Of course, the Steelers weren't comparing both guys coming out of college. They had already seen enough of Rudolph to realize that he isn't good enough to be a franchise quarterback. That is why they were so desperate to ensure that he wouldn't be their starter. The rest of the league showed that it agreed with them by passing on him this past offseason, leaving Rudolph to crawl back to a third-string job in Pittsburgh. This isn't changing the subject, by the way. You are wrong about the final year thing, too, but logical thinking requires putting things in their proper context, too.

Now you've gone from ad hominem attacks on me to all educators. That's fine. In my experience, most people who attack educators the way you just did are those who live in ignorance and prefer the rest of the world to be that way so they aren't left behind.

 

There are plenty of differences. I wasn't implying that they were comparable players. I was pointing out one example that shows why it would be foolish to worry about what a quarterback was earlier in his college career rather than focusing on what he became by the end of it.

 

That isn't entirely true. That was still a ball game until Flacco threw two pick-sixes in the third quarter.

 

They were still in the game because of the offense in the first half....I mean this is so hard to win a road playoffs game when your defense give up 24 points in the first half....I don't remember the last time a team won a playoffs game when they give up 24 first half points

 

Agreed. Players improve at different rates but also in different circumstances. Getting the right coaching in the right system can lead to how quickly or how much they do improve I believe. Not trying to put each player in the best situations for them to succeed or better yet playing on their strength makes them struggle. Of course that has to work for the players around them too. You can't just coach to one guys strength and expect everything else to fall into place for all. It's a juggling act.

 

The game got out of hand because Flacco threw back to back pick sixes .

 

How many time a team have won a playoffs game when your defense give up 24 points in the first half?

 

The Browns had the DPOY, COTY, and their DC won assistant COTY, maybe their defense should've stopped the Texans rookie QB .

 

David Carr played behind a historically bad offensive line. Kenny has played behind a decent line but has often bailed out of the pocket before he should’ve or failed to maneuver effectively within the pocket to buy an extra second or two. The great quarterbacks do that well.

 

50 sacks so far. kenny has gotten hurt a few times as well. i agree he bails too soon but i think this has something to do with it.

 

No doubt it does. I’m just saying some of it is self-inflicted. His injury against the Cards is a good example. Had he continued through his progressions, he had CAIII open for a TD. Instead he bailed early and got hurt.

 

He didn't have time to run through his progressions all the way to the other side of the field. Also, it isn't just the poor protection. Cole's incompetence on shotgun snaps also disrupted the offense.

 

There are a lot of great QBs that struggled during their first couple of years... it's not that uncommon. The point is, it is unreasonable to give up on Kenny Pickett this early in his career, especially considering most of his time on the field was with Matt Canada as the OC. Neither Kenny, Mitch, nor Mason have done great things under Matt Canada. It was only after Canada was fired did we start seeing the offense improve drastically (post-Canada, Kenny had the Steelers first 400 yards of offense game) ... only to be followed by Mason Rudolph looking unlike Mason Rudolph ever looked under Matt Canada (let's not forget, under Matt Canada, Mason lost his starting job to Duck Hodges!). Kenny deserves another year and the Steelers FO is wise enough to give it to him. The funny thing in all these posts is... a lot of the people ringing the bell for Rudolph Mason to start next year... are the same people that wanted to trade him for a half bag of Doritos during his first three years in the league.

 

I'll have to watch it again but you may be right. But you have to admit that Kenny does get happy feet at times and sees ghosts. Something has him very skittish. Not sure if it's the concussions and other injuries he's suffered, but he's not the same guy as he was his first few games. I remember him hanging in the pocket and taking some massive hits in his first few games. Now, if he senses the slightest hint of pressure, he bails.

 

Look, there should be some internal division. Kenny's been putrid and Mason at least put some quality football on tape down the stretch (even if it was against softer defenses and whatever other excuses that have been made). He played good ball when we needed to win, and that is something Kenny has never done in his whole career (against bad defenses or otherwise). I would have some serious doubts to the organization's competency if they were lock step 100% behind Kenny as the future of the franchise. However, we really can't have that discussion until we have another QB on the roster (Mason or otherwise).