Look, it's not that Mason Rudolph is a bad NFL quarterback. Because he isn't.
He can do stuff like this:
Or this, a late-game strike to Vance McDonald for six:
And he's now 3-2 as a starter, leaving one of those losses — a 26-23 overtime defeat against the Ravens — early with a concussion. Winning matters just a little bit, and facing the Colts Sunday at Heinz Field, Rudolph completed 26 of 35 passes (74 percent) with a touchdown and an interception en route to a crucial 26-24 victory.
The interception wasn't on him, either:
Looks like JuJu was perhaps looking for the hit before securing the ball. This pick's on him. #dkps #steelers pic.twitter.com/yFSRJiRMwf
— Hunter Alek Homistek (@HunterAHomistek) November 3, 2019
But that's where the "good" with Rudolph's game ends today.
Those 26 passes went for just 191 yards — 7.3 yards per completion — with 13 of them going to running back Jaylen Samuels. After Samuels? Vance McDonald had five catches for 30 yards and that score up there, while James Washington had four for 69 yards. JuJu Smith-Schuster was a non-factor, as was Diontae Johnson.
That's largely on Rudolph for not getting his eyes downfield, trusting his reads — or making those reads at all — and delivering strikes to his receivers.
Don't believe me? Let's welcome to the stage Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin, and tell us how you feel this Steelers offense can start faster:
"Rudolph needs to help Rudolph start faster," Tomlin said with a chuckle. "But no, we'll do some things, obviously. We hadn't gotten off to the type of start that we wanted to, but starts don't define us, thankfully."
First off: OK, wow. Tomlin doesn't usually spell things out so plainly. He's guarded, calculated and wise with his words in most cases, but that was a direct and clear statement from him after this win. What does that mean, though? It's a generic assessment — "starting fast" — so what with Rudolph isn't quite clicking yet?
"You know, he's a young guy," Tomlin continued. "He's a guy that's missed some time due to injury and coming off of a bye week, man. We're just trying to find our rhythm and traction, and we can't have a lot of self-inflicted wounds along the way. We've had some, [and] thankfully it hadn't prevented us from winning. We need to get better — not only him, but us. The units collectively. We gotta start the games faster than we have. It's as simple as that."
There's the diplomatic Tomlin again. He's a little nicer this time around, but he's essentially saying this: The Steelers aren't getting what they need from Rudolph. It's not there yet.
Let's just go ahead and throw out the most glaring example, Steelers up four late in the third quarter. Rudolph, backed up to his own seven, does this:
Yep. Rudolph hangs onto the ball for a decade, pump-fakes in the end zone, fails to feel the pressure and eventually concedes the safety on a strip-sack from Justin Houston. That easily could've been six points instead of two if not for Alejandro Villanueva pouncing like a hungry, hungry hippo on the loose ball.
It's almost like the broadcast booth wanted to give me ammo for this article, too, because Ian Eagle followed up Rudolph's safety with this little bit of trivia:
"First time in nine years the Steelers have given up a safety ... It says a lot about Ben Roethlisberger and his decision-making in those situations, in that area of the field."
It sure does, Mr. Eagle, and even though the Steelers eventually forced a fumble on the ensuing free kick, gaining prime field position ... they settled for three.
Rudolph was quick to acknowledge that fact after the game.
"Our defense is creating turnovers at an unbelievable pace," Rudolph said. "I would like, on our end — the offense — to be able to punch some more of those balls into the end zone, whether we're moving the ball down the field or whether we're getting a short field due to their turnovers. I think we're right there.
"I think we got good schemes and it's just a matter of getting the ball in the end zone and creating some energy for our defense and backing them up. Almost all season, they've done an unbelievable job of giving us the ball on short fields, sacking the quarterback, just splash plays on the defensive side ... We're looking to do our part more and more, is kind of how we treat it."
For comparison, on the other side of the ball, Jacoby Brissett went down in the first quarter with a knee injury, leaving Brian Hoyer to fill in. Hoyer completed 17 of 26 passes with three touchdowns and an interception in relief, good for a 105.9 QB rating.
Hoyer's success certainly didn't surprise Mike Tomlin when I asked him how much the Colts' offense changed when Brissett went down:
"Minimally — and we know that about Hoyer, man," Tomlin said. "I think that's one of the real attributes of Hoyer, man. He's been a part of our program, he's one of those unique veterans, man, that can really be ready to play on a limited number of reps and the game plan doesn't have to change at all. He is just that sharp of a guy. We know that firsthand because he was a part of our organization, so we didn't anticipate it changing at all, and he proved that to be true."
This matters, because when Roethlisberger went down with an elbow injury midway through the Steelers' Week 2 loss against the Seahawks, the team did need to make some adjustments. This isn't the Roethlisberger-led Steelers anymore, a point evidenced by that whole 7.3-yards-per-completion metric, as well as the team's heavy usage of the Wildcat in Week 4 and parts of Week 5.
Think about that. Randy Fichtner literally said: "Hey, Mason ... Uhh, look, man. We're going to let Jaylen throw this one, OK? Just ... come over here on the sideline and chill for a second."
It worked ... because the Bengals are a dumpster fire. It didn't work against the Ravens, though, as Samuels threw an early interception, then Rudolph was knocked out later in the game, giving way to Devlin Hodges, who himself is 1-0 as a starter this year.
Add it all up.
Hodges won behind a conservative, dink-and-dunk game plan against the Chargers out in Carson, Calif., completing 15 of 20 passes for 132 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.
Rudolph, through five starts, is averaging 197 yards per game and has thrown eight touchdowns vs. three interceptions. It's all just ... super "meh."
Rudolph's not going to put up 300+ yards like Roethlisberger, and he's not going to wow you with scrambling, on-the-run darts downfield. He's going to instead take his checkdowns, minimize mistakes and allow the Steelers defense to give him a hand.
Within this, Rudolph says he's feeling better on a week-to-week basis.
"We're right there close, man," Rudolph said. "I think this group has done a great job of gelling together in those situations and moving the ball down the field. Just, obviously, coming away with three is a lot different than coming away with seven. That's an ongoing effort, and I think we're moving in the right direction."
And yet ... they're winning. The Steelers are now 4-4 after an 0-3 start, knocking on the door for an AFC Wild Card spot and riding a three-game winning streak. Rudolph isn't flashing Roethlisberger-like numbers and talent.
But he's winning games — and he's striving to be better each and every time out.
"We're still not where we want to be, obviously," Rudolph said.
Coach?
"We're far from where we want to be. But we'll take it."
