The NFL has seen several young quarterbacks benefit from defenses not knowing their tendencies in preparation for games. Players like Jared Goff, Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes have looked unstoppable in their debut seasons as teams struggle to identify methods to take away their favorite targets and styles of play.
Now the Steelers get their chance to see Mason Rudolph use that kind of advantage to his favor. But to maximize the pay off of that advantage, Rudolph must exude confidence in his reads and his teammates. Let's breakdown how he's already doing that, and how that works in the Steelers' favor:
Rudolph finished his NFL debut completing 12 of 19 passes for 112 yards with two touchdowns and one interception that wasn't his fault as Donte Moncrief dropped it. Impressive numbers for a half of football, but what impressed me the most was how much he trusted his eyes, his arms and his teammates.
Let's look at this first down completion to JuJu Smith-Schuster. The Seahawks have Shaquille Griffin press Smith-Schuster initially, but back him off right before the snap. Rudolph immediately recognizes and hits Smith-Schuster as he breaks on his out route. Because Rudolph was right on this read, the first down was an easy conversion:
Timing is essential in today's passing game to maximize the route running of receivers working to create space. Although the below pass to Diontae Johnson was off-target and to the wrong shoulder, it was well timed and never gave Griffin time to recover Johnson's well run route:
Rudolph looked smooth in several aspects of his debut. Not only would he look confident in making reads and believing in his players getting open, he sticks to designed plays even when situations look dicey. Case in point, his first touchdown to Vance McDonald.
Watch how McDonald doesn't get open right away and how Rudolph has to deal with a pass rush approaching him. Rudolph waits until McDonald breaks to the middle of the field, allows the defender to cross his face, then fires the pass and lets McDonald do the rest:
Randy Fichtner has to give Rudolph opportunities to avoid looking like a deer in the headlights. That happened against the Seahawks as Rudolph fired several passes right on time to fit with the scheme of different plays. His second touchdown to McDonald was a perfect example.
Rudolph has a play action pass to McDonald over the middle where he has to trust that in a goal to go situation, the Seahawks linebackers will come up and play the run, opening up the middle of the field. The difficulty is that Rudolph's back is to the play during the fake handoff, so he has to trust that his eyes process the defense quickly.
When he turns and fires, it's to an open McDonald behind the NFL's best inside linebacker, Bobby Wagner:
And arguably the most confident play Rudolph made against Wagner was when he took off from the pocket on a third down to keep his first scoring drive alive. Rudolph doesn't run just because he's lost, he took off decisively, knowing he had the space to get the yards he needed.
But doing that with Wagner being the closest man in space takes guts, especially for a second year player in his NFL debut. Rudolph not only challenges Wagner, but he makes it work by getting the first down:
More than anything, the Steelers need Rudolph to believe in himself. He showed he did in his debut, and if he continues that trend for Fichtner, maybe the offense will develop a new rhythm with their new quarterback.
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