Roethlisberger vs Rudolph

If ben doesn't get better then Start him till he is hurt. If he gets hurt roll him out there on a stretcher. At this point we know Mason is not the future. IM putting the guy out there that gives us the best chance to draft our future QB.

Honestly i would rather see if Haskins is salvageable for anything at this point than see Mason anymore. We know what we have in Mason. A non starter barely a backup QB in this league. He will most likely not be in the league once we quit giving him charity.

 

Ben's been kicking his ass since he got here. The legend is that he never had a chance. I believe the Steelers have always viewed him as a backup, not their starter of the future. His chance is his to take with a team that believes in him.

 

I was talking about 2018 when he was the #3. He basically redshirted and then ended up starting the year after when he clearly wasn’t ready. It was a long way from ideal.

I don’t know if he has improved since but I am open to the idea that he has. By how much is the question.

 

Well as i keep saying in all the threads about Mason. He wasn't good enough to hang on to the starting job against a undrafted free agent that isn't even in the league anymore. Thats kind of telling right there at least to me.

 

Did you just say… playoff push? Haha

 

Last two games Mason played were decent. Jets and browns

his weakness is he floats balls too much, and when the blitz comes he freezes up. Still I would try him

 

Think we have been limited in backups and looking for an Heir apparent cause with everything else Ben throws a Temper Tantrum. The guy acts like the team has never done anything for him ever whenever he doesn't get his way.

 

That's how I interpret it also. Plausible deniability.

 

Don’t Stop Believin’, The true Steelers rally song. Ditch “Renegade”.

 

10 sacks in 4 games.... on pace to match his 40+ sacks not seen since 2013. Also, not sure on the accuracy of that stats, but Ben has been among the fastest release times so far this year in the NFL..... eventually we won't need to debate the QB selection, it'll be chosen by the injury report...... old men can't take those kinds of hit numbers.

 

Again that was a couple of years ago when he wasn’t ready to start. I’m not sure what is so hard to understand about that. Bradshaw was benched a couple of times early in his career for being terrible as well, should they have moved on from him? Should teams cast off every player that has a few bad games early in their career? There would be nobody left in the league.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not on the Mason hype train but I am open to the idea that players can develop. The best comparison and ceiling for Mason if he has improved is probably Jimmy G. Won’t win you games on his own but won’t be the reason you lose as long as he has a defence. The OLine is going to be an issue no matter who is in there at this stage.

 

It doesn't matter. The results would be similar with Rudolph. Ben still has more upside. He won't get more nimble but if he can fix his accuracy, we'll complete a lot of those intermediate and long routes. Once we connect on a handful of those consecutively, defenses will be forced to loosen up. That will give us a better running game and less pass pressure. It would also open up the screens for bigger gains. It seems like Ben altered his mechanics since his injury. He needs to better adjust to it or try to go back to his original mechanics, even if it may put a higher risk on his elbow. This is it for him, so he needs to play all out the rest of the way and see where it takes us.

 

I love the idea that we know everything there is to know about Rudolph after his 9 career starts but that we should still wait out Ben coming around this year. Take a look at what Ben has done in his last 9 starts and get back to me about why I should think the 18 year vet is going to get better but not the guy with 9 career starts.

 

Bradshaw didn't get benched for a undrafted free agent that couldn't even land a job in the league after the season. Mason is on this roster for one single reason. And that's cause he is not a threat. Anyone with any real talent as a QB can't be on this roster Cause King Crybaby Roethlisberger will throw a tantrum about how the team never does what he wants so he's thinking of retiring.

Mason is in his 4th year as a pro. I promise you he has had 1st team reps in practice. and while i cant prove it i would bet blindly that he has probably had more than Ben cause Ben does not like to practice. Who do you think is taking those 1st team reps every Wed? Who is taking them during the preseason when Ben wont practice? Who is playing with the first team in the pre season games cause ben wont play. Who had a whole season of the starting QB out to showcase and to learn and to wow us but got yanked? Its all one guy, Mason Rudolph. If he hasn't shown it by now he's not going to.

 

One thing I may give Mason the benefit of the doubt is that he played well and kept us in game up until his knockout concussion. After that, I'm not sure he was ready to come back when he did, but Duck was not lighting it up. When Mason played the Browns last season there is no doubt he balled out. He kept us in that game and I do believe he could have won it. It was his 4 INT game against the Browns in 2019 that some fans won't let go of. Meanwhile Ben threw 4 INTs in the wildcard game.

 

And so it begins,... Ben has a hip injury. This should be setting the scene for a graceful exit.

 

You are moving the goalposts now, I clearly stated that I was talking about 2018, his rookie year when he was the #3. I know he is getting first team reps now, part of why I believe there is a good chance he is better and more ready to play now than when he first played. I believe any player with talent and work ethic can improve over time with practice and coaching.

Again I am not a Rudolph apologist, but I recognise that the odds were stacked against him in 2019 given that he was a project coming out and his rookie year was a write off with no QB coach and no meaningful developmental programme put in place for him. By all accounts he was using VR technology to practice that year because he wasn’t getting reps. He didn’t even get game day experience either because he never got a helmet.

 

Pre-injury Ben vs. Rudolph? No contest. Today’s Ben vs. Rudolph it’s a toss up. That’s how dire our QB situation is.

 

Still doesnt explain how he got beat out by a undrafted free agent who had even less coaching and reps than him.

My point is he still looks very slow and sluggish out there. Takes forever to go thru progressions and then still looks very indecisive. That's a major issue for a NFL QB.

 

Bradshaw was fifty years ago. The game, and by that I mean the rules, the way its played, the business aspects, how much better college Qbs are prepared coming into the league, and how much more they have to show early, have all changed. There's just very little to be learned. Not to mention Bradshaw was the #1 pick overall, that does not describe Rudolph at all. And for every Bradshaw one could bring up Jerry Tagge, John Reaves, or Marc Wilson. All first round picks, if you want to go the whole , but, but, but...the Steelers had Rudolph graded out as a first rounder which says more about the Steelers than Rudolph imo.

I'm trying to think of a mid-round draft pick that when given a chance, stunk it up, but later turned out to be a franchise QB when given a second chance. I'm sure one exists, but right now I'm coming up blank.

 

they're in trouble either way. I would let Ben ride the season out and retire. Don't Eli him. The season is over already so just let him ride it out. Rudolph won't come in and magically fix the huge amount of issues on offense. Rudolph would get killed behind this line. He's probably better at this point at making deep throws or intermediate routes but i really think it's a wash

 

Look, if you want to keep hanging on 2019 that’s up to you. It was two years ago and Mason has played one regular season game since and it was a dead rubber from the Steelers point of view.

I agree that Rudolph is limited and is very likely not a starting level QB in the NFL. Unfortunately neither is Ben any more. The only question now is which one gives you the best chance to win games.

Personally I think Ben should be given every chance to work things out but I’m not sure he will be able to. It’s a sad end to his career if that is how it turns out.

 

Nobody is claiming that Rudolph is a franchise level QB or that he even has that potential

The question posed was whether he gives the Steelers a better chance to win games and salvage a season that is going off the rails with Ben playing so badly

If Ben doesn’t start to play better they will probably have to take him out for his own good at some stage. There are four home games coming up over the next five weeks and the boos will be deafening if the offence continues to play like crap

 

No Bradshaw got benched for an active heroin addict. But I have no knowledge of Masons free time activities.