A Message to Mason Rudolph

it was not a quick throw, it was a poor throw.

if he throws that another yard outside, it was a TD. Yes, DJ was covered and Mason was a split second behind in his release.

this is not that complicated. It was a snap and throw. bang - bang

he was confident in what he was doing, he just did not execute.

 

The day he was drafted the boo birds started doing their thing. He sucks blah blah blah. He only managed a tie against Detroit! juju fumbles the ball It was all mason’s fault. Oh and tomlin. Always the coach’s fault when someone fumbles or throws an int.

 

Hope you’re looking in the mirror

just as a reminder

About a year ago you were telling us all how Mason sucks. Funny how your tune has changed.

there’s also your insight on Kevin Dotson. He sucks! Nobody will miss him.


#whoopsie

 

LMAO. Your fawning over Rudolph is entertaining. (Get it!?)

The entire league passed on him this past offseason. They didn't even want him as their No. 2. He faced one competent defense that wasn't resting its key players, the Bills, and he reminded us why he's nothing special.

Your post implies that there aren't 13 starting quarterbacks in the NFL who are better than Rudolph. Maybe you were hoping nobody would actually figure it out. In no particular order, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts, Jordan Love, Tua Tagovailoa, Aaron Rodgers, Jared Goff, Brock Purdy, Matthew Stafford, C.J. Stroud, Kirk Cousins, Joe Burrow, Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, Derek Carr, and Geno Smith are all clearly better than Rudolph. I'm not talking about the fantasies in your head about what might be. I'm talking about what they have actually shown in NFL games. You could also make a strong argument for Justin Fields, Jake Browning, Will Levis, and Kyler Murray. I may have left some out and I'm intentionally avoiding any comparison with Pickett because I know you can't handle that one rationally.

 

He had four years to convince the organization that he could at least compete for the job. Their response after Roethlisberger retired was to keep Haskins, sign Trubisky, and draft Pickett, which tells you how little he had shown them. Then the entire league had a chance to sign him as a backup for peanuts and passed. That isn't erased by three games, two of them against horrid defenses and a third against an opponent that was resting many of its key starters and playing very vanilla to avoid showing anything on film before the playoffs.

He did some good things, probably enough to earn a shot to compete for the job if he wants it, but there are good reasons to think he isn't the guy.

 

LOL. I would prefer the Steelers got him back cheap to compete for the job, but I would enjoy laughing at some other team wasting that much money on him. Also, he seems like a decent guy, so it wouldn't be horrible to see him get overpaid.

 

The draft experts/media almost unanimously told us he should go in the first round and most of y'all are ready to blow that off as them being stupid. Those same experts prattle on about him being NFL ready and that is gospel.

He wasn't NFL ready and poor coaching his first two seasons has not helped.

 

Rudolph got two consecutive starts against arguably the worst defenses the Steelers faced all season and it was after the coaches had a few weeks to figure out how to move away from the elements of Canada's offense that weren't working. Pickett got one full game without Canada and the result was the game that broke the team's epic streak of games under 400 yards of total offense. Granted, that was a crappy defense, too, but we did not see him in circumstances comparable to the favorable conditions that were there for Rudolph.

 

I’m thinking Mason’s agent will be looking at Trubiskey’s contract as a starting point. This is what you paid him and my client is clearly better

 

I believe it was actually “the most nfl ready”. That doesn’t mean he is actually ready for prime time, but that he’s closer than anyone else

 

Semantics aside, clearly wasn’t an accurate assessment.

Weak excuses. I’m not as focused on the results moreso than what I’ve observe of their skill set. Kenny doesn’t read the field well, doesn’t go through progressions, has poor pocket presence, happy feet and he’s been consistently inaccurate. I saw Mason go through progressions, stand in the pocket and be more accurate. I saw Mason show a higher level of understanding of their offensive concepts and what defenses were trying to do.

I wasn’t all that impressed with Kenny’s game against the Bengals without Canada. He still missed reads and throws in that game, it’s just that the Bengals basically ignored Muth and the middle of the field banking on Kenny continuing to ignore them.

Drafting has never been and will never be an exact science. I don’t pretend that every missed pick is due to incompetence. In hindsight, Kenny isn’t a first round pick though. He wasn’t “NFL ready” or “the closest to being NFL ready” as the experts you cite thought. He’s a guy who should’ve went in the 3rd-5th with a plan to develop him over his first couple of years.

I don’t know what “almost unanimous” means. I saw projections that had him as a 3rd round prospect. Here’s one. If you do take some time to glance over this projection, it’s pretty dog-on accurate.
https://syndication.bleacherreport....22-scouting-report-for-pittsburgh-qb.amp.html

 

I have to agree.
Mason is a great guy and as I've said many times, I had high hopes he would explode on the scene.
But I was hope for an M80 type, not a snap.
I am so glad I am not a GM.

 

We need a solid QB/backup specially with an injury prone unproven guy on his rookie deal. As a Steelers fan it would be great to resign MR, but if i put myself in his shoes, i would probably take the best offer with a competitive team. The Steelers did MR no favors, if Mitch didn't stink it up MR's NFL career is probably trashed and Tomlin and Co played a big part in that.

 

You should probably listen to the podcast with Villanueva. He and Ramon foster address this very subject. Of course it’s easier to bash someone despite not knowing anything about the situation.

 

I personally, am not going to argue about it anymore. But lets go with this review you linked.

"Kenny Pickett has good size and overall athleticism for the quarterback position. He was asked to run a wide variety of concepts at Pittsburgh that will make his transition to the NFL a bit easier than for other prospects.

Pickett has above-average overall arm strength with flashes of the ability to drive the ball when he's in rhythm and able to anticipate throws. He also shows competitiveness when in the pocket and when scrambling to fight for extra yards, and his willingness to take a hit is infectious for his teammates."

------ We saw some pretty good flashes in the first year. Revisionist have rewrote the story some though. But I agree with this assessment. --------


" While Pickett shows a solid understanding of NFL-level concepts, he is inconsistent with his timing on throws, often going one-and-done with his reads. He will also end up late getting to a second option on a concept because he is guessing when the next route will become available."

----- This is coaching and building trust with your receivers. I have seen a little of that. I can personally tell you that Matt Canada was no help there.

"He has a tendency to stare down one available route and then look to start a scramble drill outside of the pocket at unnecessary times, which can lead to sacks and missed opportunities."

--- I know I've scream about locking onto. He has to learn to use his eyes and look off defenders.. this is somewhat coaching and mor eon the player. Kenny is a scrambler, I 've seen some pretty outlandish comments about his bailing..... but again, very revisionist. He's taken some pretty hard whacks and delivered the ball. Again, your QB drills you on this every day... it is somewhat coaching and more player attributed.

"Pitckett's ability to make defenders miss in the pocket and down the field and also throw off-platform on broken plays is a clear strength. He is not a statue by any means, and he can truly create plays for an offense. But he is not an overwhelming athlete, and NFL defenses will punish that tendency if his anticipation and willingness to operate from the pocket doesn't improve."

--- Totally agree. He has to work the pocket better.


What's it all say? Noone really expects a Mahomes.
But he is far from the bum I would be led to believe if I took some serious.
Ideally, he should have sat that first year with Mitch or Mason running am effective offense. That failed.
We put him in as the starter too soon.
What's next? Hopefully we get a new OC that knows what an NFL offense is, or at least knows the different between a football and a hockey puck.



"There are also times when Pickett will take underneath options on high-low concepts when deeper routes are available. It's good that he can find a throw, but he can leave some meat on the bone. As a potential 24-year-old rookie with over 40 starts in his college career, NFL teams would likely hope for more consistency in that regard."

--- Agreed.

 

their evaluation skills of QB’s and Offensive coordinators is already in question. Any additional information just gives details on how they made their mistakes and maybe tries to rationalize their decisions.

 

I have already gone over the list in another post. I think he’s just as good as many on your list that you consider better such as Geno Smith ( whom he beat), Pickett, etc etc. it comes down to opinion at this point. Mason’s story hasn’t been written. His QB rating was 104 this year with two games in horrible condition. Pickett rating was 80 or something pedestrian. The future will tell us soon enough who is right and I see pointless to argue opinions at this point.

 

Im really not sure why. I’m a Pitt fan watched him his entire career. He had one great season throwing to Addison wide open against terrible ACC defenses.

 

It took Mon about an hour to get Mason to open up and start having a good time with the interview, but it was definitely worth the viewing to see Mason finally drop his guard and have some fun. It was the final Q& A session with Fan questions that really got Mason into the interview. When asked about the crowd chanting his name and Tomlin'isms he really got going.

Hope he comes back.

 

I'm sorry the facts trouble you so much. The Bengals' defense was bad when the Steelers faced them with Pickett, but they were even worse by the time Rudolph got a crack at them because they had lost their best interior run defender for the season. The only way that could have been a cushier spot for Rudolph is if they put the Pitt Panthers out there.

Rudolph also has a poor pocket presence, but it is the opposite of Pickett. He just stands there like a statue far too long, with no feel for the rushers around him. Six years in and he hasn't addressed that. Pickett at least has the excuse of being in year two. The fact that the Bengals are terrible and the Seahawks couldn't stop the run at all helped mask his failings. That said, he still missed more deep throws than he made. The Bengals were so set on taking away Freiermuth, thanks to the way he and Pickett torched them, and compensating for their compromised run defense that they let Pickens have a field day. Rudolph missed three or four open receivers deep. Even the spectacular catch by Pickens before halftime was a poor throw. Pickens was behind everyone, but Rudolph threw it well behind him.

Plenty of people talked about Jordan Love the way you are talking about Pickett using hindsight as recently as early in the 2023 season. Is it hindsight or impatience?

 

By the way, I was referring to the way-too-many mock drafts I read before the real one that year, and almost all of them had Pickett in the first round.

 

We Are Penn State

 

Awesome show! Well worth an hour of your time.

“Way to weaponize that cadence, boy!”

 

Of course your Pickett blinders are on again... Mason said what he should have said about the int, which was to put it on his shoulders, that's what leaders do... What he didn't say was the receiver has to come back to the ball hard & make the defender go through him to get to it... It's a timed play & he went more out than back towards pylon... watch the replay... It was a designed play,,, there was no other read... what you should be asking is why not just hammer najee 3 times there which has to be a high percentage success...
You got quite a bit wrong in a short post too...