Is Mason a better fit for OUR receivers and AFC North football?

I think Mason proved last night that he knows how to use our receivers. He took deep shots to Pickens, DJ and Austin and hit paydirt on three beautiful deep shots to Pickens. He just missed one to DJ and underthrew one to Austin, but the point is he was giving his deep threats an opportunity to make plays down the field. He’ll hit those next time as his timing with those guys improves.

Throwing it deep is one of Rudolph’s strengths so I think he’s a better fit for these guys than the checkdown Charlie twins. Mitch will sling it deep but only as long as his receiver is triple covered. Happy feet Pickett bails from the pocket before deep routes can develop.

Another thing about Mason is that he’s a big, durable guy. I noticed last night that he took a pretty good shot from a linebacker immediately after throwing a pass and he stayed on his feet barely fazed. Pickett would have probably hit the ground and gotten concussed. He’s dang near as big as Ben and can move when he has to. I’ve often said I worry about whether or not Pickett is durable enough for AFC North smash mouth football. Rudolph is built in that mold.

 

I agree with all of your sentiments.

Speaking of his durability, one thing that I've not discussed a lot is that, despite being 28, Mason's probably much younger than that, at least in terms of wear and tear. Granted, he suffered a brutal head injury, but that was many years ago now. In other words, he's racked up a lot less mileage than many starting caliber QBs his age.

Aside from that head injury, though, he hasn't really been seriously injured, and the fact that he's not even played an entire season of football over the span of 5 seasons means that his body hasn't worn down in the slightest. It's clear in both his visible appearance and in statements he's given to questions in the last week that the guy has taken care of his body and has stayed fit. Being on the bench has also given him a unique opportunity to focus on the IQ side of the game - something Kenny could have also benefited from, probably, had Tomlin not rushed him into the game.

All in all, I guess what I'm saying is that if Mason should defy all odds and actually become QB1 going forward, he would be "young" for his age, and smarter to boot - and those things have to count for something.

 

I’ll almost guarantee that a lot of people lost money on that game. First time this team has played as a team in awhile. And I really believe that they wanted Mason to do well.

 

Mason has a great deep ball, it was alway his movement in the pocket and his progressions that he struggled with.

 

The question is if yesterday's game was a fluke or a sign to come for Rudolph

Sure, he had possibly the best game for a QB of the Steelers in last few years and I have to give him credit for that but we need to know if it's a fluke or a sign to come but it's going to be tough to evaluate with so few game left

 

Scoring 30+ in NFL is a fluke, it does not happen often.

 

I'm not talking about scoring 30 points every week, far from that but the question is whether Rudolph can be at least just a competent QB that we can actually have a chance of winning when he plays... It wasn't the case with Mitch and it was not the case with Rudolph in his last 2-3 starts in 2019

 

The players seem to have more trust and confidence in MR than they do in KP or MT.

 

Of course he will be better than the others. Kenny and Mitch were struggling to put up 14 points in a game. The bar is very low. Of course we were force feeding them into line up because they are paid to perform. But that time is over. Everybody knows it.

 

It's hard to evaluate it was the Bengal's and their defense has been having some issues lately.
Mitch is too inaccurate with his deep ball and Pickett bails out too early, Mason showed last night he has the Bells to stand in there.
If they can improve the offensive line and fill some of the holes in the defense the Steelers might not need elite play from the QB.
Its been a long time but throwing some deep balls and hitting on a few empties the box a little bit for the running game.

 

If Trubisky starts that game yesterday and plays the entire game I have no confidence in saying whether or not the Steelers win that game against the Bengals. I doubt the 86 yard TD to Pickens happens the 2nd play of the first series and that 66 yard TD to Pickens where Mason dropped the dime down the sideline after the Bengals scored and made it 24-8 and got some momentum probably doesn’t happen either with Trubisky playing. He just doesn’t make either of those plays and both of those plays changed the entirety of that game and they both most likely don’t happen if he is playing QB yesterday instead of Mason.

 

George Pickens routes vs Cincinnati yesterday



Compared to his routes vs New England two weeks ago



New Englands defence is better and maybe they felt that the Bengals D was there for the taking and built their game plan around going after them down the field but even allowing for that the contrast is quite stark

 

Lol @ checkdown Charlie twins

 

Wow. The difference is legitimately striking. It could not be any more night and day. What have his routes looked like with Kenny (or at least in games where he had at least some kind of action)? I bet they largely look just as barren as with Trubisky.

 

Lol @ routes against NE.

what kind of a dumbass calls those routes for Pickens against any defense? Lol

 

Highsmith had nothing but good things to say about Mason. Was genuinely excited!

 

I just read that Mason's early TD pass to George Pickens was actually the longest TD pass from the LoS in the entire NFL this entire season. That's actually pretty impressive, considering how truly bad the Steelers offense has been. Granted, most of the leg work was done by GP, however for GP to run the route so successfully still required that the ball was thrown to him in just such a way that he could catch it in full stride - and that's exactly what Mason delivered.

Successfully getting the ball a receiver in stride has actually been a major problem throughout the entire post-Ben-era, so the fact that Mason did just that, almost right out of the gate no less, is kind of a big deal imo.

 

Mason threw passes deep that his receivers could catch for the most part, Trubisky deep passes were either intercepted or way off target, like that stupid play call on 4th and 2 against New England .

 

Mitch looks for double coverage with saftey help before throwing deep.

 

I think those are just attempts, or targets, not all routes, QB has a lot to do with those.

 

I think some of y'all are getting way too excited about what was essentially three throws in a game against a horrible defense. There are good reasons why the entire league didn't even want Rudolph as a backup last season.

He was the perfect fit for last night, when they knew they needed to take deep shots and they knew they could protect him against a weak Bengals pass rush. He also missed on three wide-open deep balls, two of them when he wasn't pressured.

I think he should start this week, but trusting him as anything more than a backup long-term due to one game is silly. I'm also unsure Tomlin will go for a game plan like yesterday's, though I'd certainly like to see them try it with Pickett.

 

The Bengals defense is horrible.

 

I hope we have seen the last of Mitch playing in a Steelers uniform, he's probably one of the highest paid backup QBs in the league, but he can't even get a win against bad teams.

 

The Pats defense is one of the tops in the leauge....the Bengals defense is near or at the bottom.

 

They didn't trust their line and they knew Trubisky is better on short and intermediate routes. Of course, that was a mistake. It's not something Tomlin would ever do, but they should have made the switch at halftime of that game.