We might have seen the next step in the maturation process of Mason Rudolph last Monday night against the Dolphins.
No, not the recovery from a horrid first quarter, though that was a good step for the second-year quarterback to take.
In this case, we finally saw Rudolph make some throws to JuJu Smith-Schuster when the star receiver was "covered," trusting his guy to win in those situations.
Forget the rust factor for Rudolph, who was coming off of not having played in a game for three weeks after suffering a concussion and missing a game against the Chargers prior to the team's bye week. This was the trust factor for which the Steelers had been waiting.
The results were five receptions for a season-high 103 yards and this touchdown, on which Smith-Schuster was covered -- but not really.
Smith-Schuster and the Steelers (3-4) would like to see Rudolph trust his star receiver like that more often moving forward, perhaps starting with their game Sunday against the Colts (5-2).
Smith-Schuster, who had 111 catches for 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns last season, has drawn a lot of double coverage this season without Antonio Brown around. So when opponents do try to single him in coverage, Rudolph needs to trust him.
"The majority of time when I’m one-on-one or in man, it might not seem like I’m open, but I’m open," Smith-Schuster said. "Just give me an opportunity and put the ball around me. I’ll be able to make a play."
That's been a learning process for Rudolph, who was making just his fourth career start in the game against the Dolphins.
He's seen Smith-Schuster make those kind of catches on a regular basis from Ben Roethlisberger last season. He's seen it in practice. But he hadn't exactly let it rip to Smith-Schuster in games when he saw those situations -- until last week.
When you're the quarterback and you've been entrusted with the offense and been coached up not to turn the ball over, the idea of pulling the trigger on a throw to a guy who is covered takes a great deal of trust—even if you've seen him succeed more often than not in those situations.
"When you’re the one throwing it, for sure," Rudolph admitted. "Those in-helmet experiences, seeing it happen in practices, as well as in the game and seeing it come to fruition, it definitely adds the trust factor with him as well as other guys in big situations. Diontae (Johnson) made plays, as well as James Washington in backed-up plays. It’s good to see it."
That trust factor has been missing at times, as Rudolph was more willing to check things down rather than push the ball downfield and trust his receivers to make plays.
In his first four games -- three starts and a half of another game -- Rudolph’s average pass attempt traveled just 6.7 yards — 29th among 34 quarterbacks with at least 50 attempts in that span. He was playing very conservatively, making sure he didn't make a big mistake.
But in his return to action against the Dolphins after sitting out three weeks ago against the Chargers, Rudolph averaged 13.1 air yards per pass attempt, the highest in the NFL last week.
"They were going to present some opportunities to do that, and we had to challenge that aspect of it maybe a few more times," offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said. "Overall, it does have an effectiveness. You can throw the ball short, too, and get them off of you. Sometimes coverage dictates that. They liked to play a lot of press and man-to-man. You’d better challenge them down the field first."
But while the Dolphins were one of the worst pass-defense teams in the league, ranking in the bottom 10 in 20-yard passes allowed, the Colts are in the top 10 in that stat -- just behind the Steelers. Indianapolis has given up 23 passing plays of 20 or more yards, just two fewer than the Steelers, to rank ninth in the league.
After seeing Smith-Schuster beat single coverage, the Colts could choose to double Smith-Schuster and take their chances with Johnson and Washington.
Johnson had five catches for 84 yards and a touchdown against the Dolphins and is emerging as a No. 2 option behind Smith-Schuster in the Steelers offense. In fact, Rudolph has targeted Smith-Schuster 29 times and Johnson 27 in the game's he's played.
Smith-Schuster leads the team with 30 catches for 443 yards and three touchdowns, while Johnson is third with 25 receptions for 296 yards and three touchdowns. They're not nearly on pace to match last year's production of Smith-Schuster and Antonio Brown, who combined for 215 receptions and 22 touchdowns, but if Rudolph starts trusting them more to win their matchups in the second half of the season, the offense would be much more potent.
"Any offense would be," Fichtner said. "Look across the league. Everyone has to have at least one Superman and one Batman. It would be nice to have two Superman."
But the quarterback has to throw the ball to make that happen.
"Last week, we made a lot of plays with combat catches down the field, setting up our offense in good field position and moving the ball down the field," Rudolph said. "Any time you do that, you’re going to be successful."
