Mason Rudolph had impressive stats in the Steelers' 27-3 win over the Bengals Monday night. He finished the night completing 24 passes on 28 attempts for two touchdowns. But it wasn't typical NFL-style passing where he had several targets downfield.
He did his job and remained composed in a must-win game. But Randy Fichtner is going to need more from Rudolph as a field commander as the season progresses. Let's take a closer look at the positives Rudolph has shown and the moments when he could've been better:
What can be misleading about Rudolph's statistics is how he moved the ball. Half of his completed passes were within one yard of the line of scrimmage or behind it. But twelve completions beyond one yard downfield is a step in the right direction, after he only had two in the Steelers week three loss to the 49ers.
As I revisited last week, Rudolph's struggles with seeing the field involve cycling through his progressions once his primary reads are taken away. The more I've watched Rudolph, the more apparent it is that he has to stick to receivers within his direct eyesight. He hasn't developed the ability to shift through reads out of his eyesight and trust his knowledge of the playbook.
Fichtner did a good job finding ways to keep multiple options in front of his primary reads so that he could cycle through progressions without moving his head to different parts of the field.
Here's his touchdown pass to James Conner. Watch how Fichtner has drawn up a flood passing concept to go along with Rudolph's bootleg to his right. Diontae Johnson runs to the flat, while Nick Vannett runs a deeper corner route.
That forces to the only two defensive backs of the Bengals on the right to cover them, while Conner runs a hitch in between. Rudolph sees the opening and fires, letting Conner do the rest:
Fichtner also had JuJu Smith-Schuster running behind the linemen so that Rudolph could shovel pass to him if all else failed. Plays like this were smart play-calling to help build Rudolph's confidence in reading the field.
Because Rudolph is still adjusting to the playbook, Fichtner has to draw up more plays where Rudolph has a designed low risk target. Sometimes that can lead to Rudolph overlooking other options, missing out on big opportunities.
Watch this swing pass to Smith-Schuster where the Bengals jump all over it, but leave Johnson and Vannett in single coverage beating their men to the end zone. Vannett runs a corner route that breaks free and Johnson's crossing pattern would've gave Rudolph an even easier target for Rudolph:
It's good to have a script that protects a young quarterback. But a coordinator needs him to be able to take advantage of options down the field when they open up. He is comfortable completing check down passes, and that's important.
He completes this one to Jaylen Samuels who gets the first down, but he misses out on receivers breaking open against the Bengals' zone defense. If you watch closely you can see Johnson with five yards of separation at the bottom of the screen on a hook route, and Smith-Schuster running free behind the Bengals linebackers:
Rudolph sees neither, but Samuels makes it work. That won't always be the case when they face defenses with better tacklers, so Rudolph does have to eventually evolve for this offense to start firing on all cylinders. Rudolph's lack of post-snap reads like these has been my biggest critique of him since his college days.
But even some of Rudolph's pre-snap reads overlooked big opportunities for the offense. The below play was just before the Conner touchdown, but it was one of the biggest missed opportunities I saw on the night. The Steelers come out with 22 personnel (two running backs, two tight ends) and James Washington as the lone receiver.
Conner motions out of the backfield to line up outside of Washington, forcing the cornerback that was over Washington to bounce outside. That forces defensive end Carlos Dunlap to bump out and line up on Washington. This is a complete mismatch with only one defensive back on that side of the field and Conner and Washington streaking towards the end zone:
Dunlap stood no chance in that space and that left William Jackson III on an island between either Washington and Conner, meaning Rudolph could pick on him with either target. But he never even looked that way and checked down to Samuels.
Those are the things Rudolph has to see moving forward. If he doesn't, the underneath passing won't always work out in the Steelers favor. But after a third straight game with two touchdown passes, he should have every bit of confidence to build on his success.
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