Controversial, but Omar Khan and possibly Tomlin should be terminated if they fail to sign a QB

You are assuming Tomlin wasn't honest with the players, that Fields didn't know he was a backup filling in, not a starter. That is a dubious assumption.

 

Come on, Blast. You know there is a very big difference between the resume Wilson had going into last season and Pickett's. Also, six games into a season is a very different animal than the last game with a playoff berth on the line and a playoff game. Pickett wasn't benched. He was injured, then they didn't give him the job back because he had been sitting for a month and Rudolph was playing well. Rudolph was playing a heck of a lot better going into that season finale in Baltimore than Fields was early last season.

There are also reports that Fields handled the situation perfectly and his public statements did not show him being bothered by anything other than his own play.

 

You wrote that it wasn't as if Wilson had been the starter for years, but that is where his resume is relevant. It isn't just the agreement Tomlin had to enter into with Wilson to get him to sign. It is why they wanted him in the first place. He was a hell of a quarterback in the NFL for a long time.

The Steelers getting Wilson cheap was more complicated than how you just portrayed it, too, because of the money the Broncos owed him. I never wanted Wilson and I though they should have been more patient with Pickett, but Tomlin clearly had a great deal more faith in Wilson. That has an impact on how he handled those two situations. The timing was also very different. It is one thing to make a change back to the starter with most of the season left to play, especially when it was clear the second half of the schedule was more difficult and it included all of the division games. The previous season, there was only a game or two left when Pickett was ready to return (depending which report you believe). It is a very different thing to turn to a starter who has been out for over a month for the final game of the season with a spot in the playoffs on the line.

My overall point is that Wilson was the starter until he got hurt in preseason. That he hadn't started a regular-season game yet does not change that. I don't doubt that Fields wasn't happy to go back to the bench, but I think some folks here are reading what they want to read instead of the information we have in trying to figure out why he left. The answer could be as simple as the Jets offering more money and a stronger commitment to starting him.

 

most dubiously

 

This thread has devolved into Pickett fanboys blaming Tomlin for why Pickett sucked and congratulating each other for putting that out there. Could it be that Tomlin isn't a great coach and Pickett also is in a long line of 1st round qb busts. There are no good QB's out there in free agency. Fields is just a bit better Trubisky. Jets will find that out. I am not sold on Darnhold...and not for that $100 million contract. He reverted to the old Darnold in the playoffs. The smart thing to do is make cap space for future and get a good qb in draft. It's a win win win situation starting Rudolph. If he sucks, you get a good draft pick. If he finishes 9-8...well that is what Rodgers or similar washed up QB will give you and you save tens of million and use it for gaining cap space in future by restructuring contracts. If he balls out and wins you a playoff game, then you have your franchise late bloomer QB.

 

Not getting your job back from a backup is pretty much the definition of being benched.

 

It's not a copout at all. Your take ignores that Rudolph got to play without Canada against two terrible defenses, the Bengals and Seahawks. You are assuming things not in evidence.

Your take on Fields assumes he can be a quality starting quarterback in the NFL. Most of the NFL disagrees with you. The Bears shipped him off at a very low price and still had trouble finding a taker. Sure, the Jets gave him a decent contract this offseason, but that is an organization in competition with the Browns for being the biggest joke in the NFL.

The Steelers clearly disagree with you. At most, they wanted him as a bridge because the options are so limited this offseason. A year ago, they saw him as a cheap backup and someone worth keeping an eye on in case he somehow figured out how to properly utilized his prodigious physical talents. If they really believed in him, he would be a Steeler right now.

Why does it matter to you so much if Tomlin didn't believe in Pickett, but you seem to think it is irrelevant that he didn't believe in Fields?

 

Not really. It was a choice between Rudolph at 100 percent having played the previous few weeks or Pickett at less than 100 percent having been off a month. Despite what you may wish, context matters.

 

I do love the irony of you starting off referring to others as fanboys as you put your Rudolph fanboyism on full display for us.

 

That is because I was only one of the two or three posters who predicted that Rudolph would do much better than Pickett or Trubisky in 2023 before the games were played. Majority of posters thought that was preposterous including you. That gives me a message board fanboyism poster right over other fanboyism.

 

The 'context' was that Pickett was cleared to play, was reportedly angry when told he wouldn't play. Pickett reacted like a QB that was benched, because he was.
You can try to spin it, but bottom line was that he was sitting for the most important game of the season, i.e. benched.

 

Exactly

No more no less

Mason played because at least at the time he was the better quarterback

It’s not like Pickett was promised anything

And then he ran from competition

 

Your bottom line is overly simplistic and inaccurate. The true bottom line is the situation was vastly different from Wilson and Fields last year, which is where this started. The comparison doesn't hold up at all.

 

No, he really didn't, but you think repeating the same lie somehow makes it true.

 

No, it doesn't, Mrs. Rudoph.

 

Nothing I stated on Pickett was inaccurate. You are the one to speculate on Pickett's readiness. Tomlin recognized the offense was better with Rudolph. He said as much before the last game of the regular season vs BAL:

"We're going to leave the ball in Mason Rudolph's hands," Tomlin said via the Steelers’ website. "He's done good job and we've done a good job. We've scored points at a rate in which we hadn't done. With the urgency of the moment and because of those reasons, we're going to leave the ball in his hands.

 

I'm not trying to do anything. I'm looking at everything rather than just the narrative that suits my argument.

Of course he was a bust. He's gone. That said, ignoring the context is just a way for people to push the narrative they like while sticking their fingers in their ears.