Mason F Rudolph

He's looking pretty darn good to me. But I'm just an untrained football fan that likes the playoffs.

 

Sooo why didn't the other qbs deliver against the other poor pass defenses? Hmmm. After all it was just a slant.

 

I just find it funny that many posters on this board complain about the coaches not showing patience with Rudolph, but they don't want to be patient with Pickett. (I'm not sure if you are one of them, but I have seen that on this board.)

 

Look at that ugly possession before halftime against the Ravens. That's what I am talking about. It didn't show up in the previous two games because neither the Seahawks nor the Bengals got much pressure on him.

 

I would settle for that, too. It would be a hell of a step forward to do that against good competition that actually cares about the result.

 

Mason isn't a perfect player, and I know some people are getting a bit carried away with him right now, but he has been a breath of fresh air for this offense. Mason's ability to push the ball deep downfield, get our top WR involved, and willingness to stick in the pocket and let the play develop has done wonders for this offense. He's both moved the ball AND scored points. These are two things that I am not sure that Pickett is capable of. Now, I don't believe that a few game stretch means that we should be lining up the Brinks truck to re-sign Mason and make him our starter (nor do I think any team will want to make Mason their starter), but I do think he has proven at least enough to be our primary back up moving forward. He also has proven that he could potentially be our spot starter as we continue to look for our "QB of the future" after moving on from Pickett (whenever that is, hopefully sooner rather than later).

Tomlin still has Kenny as QB1 (and that is fine), but the painful reality is that Kenny is essentially being sit on the bench while perfectly healthy. He was probably healthy enough to play in Seattle, but we had the excuse we could pull regarding being uncomfortable with his health. We wanted to see if Mason could replicate his big night against Cincy. After he played well again we had to face the decision on whether to roll with Mason or go back to a healthy Pickett. We chose Mason, and did so because (I think) we don't believe Kenny can put up the yards and points that Mason did the previous two weeks. No matter what the coaching staff says, this is showing a HUGE lack of confidence in Kenny. If we had confidence in Kenny, we would've thanked Mason for his 2 wins, told him "great job" and then went back to 8, because this is Kenny's team. But we didn't. I don't see a reason to go back to Kenny at all this year barring injury or benching of Mason for poor performance.

 

Mason can only play the teams that are in front of him. Pickett faced a bunch of bad defenses in his 24 career starts as well and did nothing. I get that the Bengals and Seahawks had poor defenses, but both teams cared about the result of those games. We essentially eliminated both from playoff contention.

Buffalo's defense is pretty good, but they are somewhat vulnerable against the run. I don't think we will need to score 30+ to win this one, but we will certainly need to find a way to score in the mid-high 20's if we want to have a real shot at winning this one on the road. Our defense is banged up and while the Buffalo offense has had turnover issues, they are still an offense that has put up a good number of points this season.

 

I hope Mason does well in Buffalo, because I keep waiting for Stephen A, to have to eat a big-ol-pile of Sh!t, for all the nasty things he has said about Mason Rudolph over the years.

I just watched Stephen A on Pat McAfee show yesterday and he was still slamming Rudolph.

 

You'll notice that I didn't argue that he had a great game. And you seem to agree that he has been "good enough" the past 3 games.
Maybe we have been arguing different things.
He may not have the individual stats, but whatever he is doing is allowing the offense as a whole to be performing well. (Fingers crossed that it continues.)

If the next Mahomes somehow falls to the Steelers pick in the next draft, then by all means get him. Or if Pickett has an incredible improvement in the offseason (like his preseason play carrying over to the regular season), make him the starter next season. But if all they can get in the next draft/FA is the next Zach Wilson or Justin Fields or Trubisky, then I think the team can have success next season with Rudolph at QB while improving the other problem areas of the roster.

For all of the current team's flaws and injury limitations, they've been good about turnover differential. 2nd best offensive TOs, and 8th best defensive takeaways.
(Baltimore has the highest defensive takeaways in the league, which is why one of the keys last week was to not lose the differential.)
Zero INTs in 3 games is a big deal. If he continues to protect the ball in Buffalo (hopefully the fumbles were a one-time thing with the monsoon rain), that gives the team a better chance then trying to force passes.

 

Link the posts of you being this critical of Kenny Pickett or just stop playing the I'm being objective & your all 5yr Olds bs... say that Mason rudolph is better than Kenny Pickett right now at least... it's hard to take anything you say seriously...

 

LoL. You don't even have to know who the people that said Mason sucked were before all this. You can tell by just reading this one thread. They are still fighting the fight. LoL. I like how they could somehow know after 10 games that Mason sucked, but after over 20 games that KFP played they can't. LoL. Funny thing is if You go let's just say the 1st year played both so it's about even for win, and loses, but Mason has better stats. Yet He sucked, and KFP didn't. Now realize I don't hate KFP, and like Mason....I haven't seen enough out of either, but I knew Mason could open up the deep game, and we severely need that. Yet somehow with almost the same starting record their 1st year, but stats going in Masons favor.....the Mason haters were able to decide He sucked....yet not KFP. LoL. Yet when You bring the evidence up they don't have a real answer.....besides some crazy stuff. LoL

 

This was a pretty nice long ball..... how do you poo-poo that?
The bottom line is, TD's. We're not getting enough.
If Mason is putting them in the end zone, I'm all about it.

 

You showed one play in over 20 games. LoL. I can show You more in the last 3 games. I'm not a KFP hater. I don't know what He will become. I just know at this moment that Mason is better, and all I ask for is a true Qb competition. Its funny people could hate on Mason in his 1st year playing, but not KFP....with both having almost the same record, and Mason having better stats. Amazing. Only Qb on this team I hated was Trubisky

 

No.. folks are acting like this guy never throws a TD pass.
Or cannot throw long....
Truth be known, yes he can.

It's hard to say Mason isn't playing better.
It's even harder to try to spin it like we knew all along.
It is a stretch to say 'expected it'.
If one can, then one is wasting one's time here on an internet chatty board trying to be the 'smartest person in a sports bar.' One should really be buying lottery tickets and then buying their own football team with the winnings.

Not busting your chops... I actually kind of sort of agree.
It's just that condescending doesn't work on this topic. Why? Mason for all practical logic, was out of football last season. Yeah, he got to drive to the park and pretend to be Mahomes for the scout team. But I'm sure you get what I mean.

Throwing 4 picks and getting beat up then replaced by a Duck doesn't make for a good resume.
But I am first in line hoping Mason proves us all wrong.

 

Going with the hot hand does not mean they don't have confidence in the starter. Apparently you missed the symbolism of still listing Pickett as QB1.

 

He has thrown more than one. Come on. You know that.

Plenty of people are hating on Pickett and that's fair. He needs to be better and soon or the team needs to move on from even considering him as their long-term quarterback. Next year could be make-or-break for him. I just find it funny that people complain about the organization not being patient with Rudolph while at the same time giving up on Pickett after less than two full seasons. At this point in Rudolph's second year, he was being benched for Duck Hodges.

 

The symbolism can mean a multitude of things. It could be that technically Pickett didn't lose his job due to injury, it could be that they just don't want to commit to "moving on" from him as a starter just yet. It's not a clearly defined thing, nor would I expect the organization to clearly define anything at this point. They are going to roll with the guy they have the most confidence in playing well enough to win a playoff game (Rudolph) while at the same time showing outward confidence that the guy currently on the roster as QB1 (Pickett) could still be a long term answer for the organization. They have no potential long term answers outside of Pickett signed for 2024, so there is 0 reason to portray anything but confidence until that situation changes. It might this offseason, it might not. But it gives the Steelers options, while painting a brush of "no confidence" in Kenny backs us into a more linear approach next season.

The truth is that they DONT have confidence in Kenny right now. If they did, he would be playing. Their lack of confidence isn't in his long term success (apparently?), but in his ability to out perform what Rudolph has put on the field the last three weeks. If they felt like Pickett could perform in the same way, a completely healthy Pickett would be starting. Simple as that.

 

I'm just amazed that ypu

So say that Rudolph is better than Pickett right now or stop claiming objectivity... There in lies the nonsense in what you're claiming. The fact that you cannot admit this OBVIOUS fact, speaks volumes about your lack of objectivity... maybe I've just been arguing on here with too many kfp fanboys & I'm taking it out on you.. idk. What I do know is Rudolph has brought this team out of the dumpster fire it was on offense & ppl like you seem disappointed about it... Those "mid numbers " are the best the pittsburgh offense has looked in years & he did it in 3 games... You're idea of objectivity seems off a little...

 

"Outside of Qbr" literally the metric by which such things are measured... You still haven't said Rudolph should play over Pickett... I'll wait

 

A resume is more than just the one-time worst game of his career.
Ben has thrown 4 picks something like 6 or 7 times. We don't pretend that those games encompass his resume.
You are making it sound like that Cleveland game was a typical performance.
MR has one game where he has thrown 2 or more INTs (that 4 INT game). KP has 2 games so far (a 2 INT and a 3 INT game).

I'm fine with saying that we don't know if this is MR's new "average" or just a short-term hot streak, until more games are played.
But I'm excited to find out how far he can take this flawed team, instead of deciding that he will never be better than his first regular season starts.

 

For my part, it is a tale of the underdog. That is what he is overcoming or will try to.

I don't know how many times I have to say, Mason was a guy I pulled for.

 

Does anybody think after Canada was let go, that
maybe the person/s calling the offensive plays may be calling
a different game than Canada dialed up? I see we have averaged
Over 156 yds rushing these past three weeks. Pretty good for play
action downfield shots. Just wondering go Steelers.