PITTSBURGH, PA — The Pittsburgh Steelers are sticking with Mason Rudolph at quarterback as their playoff dreams hang in the balance.
Though 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett has been allowed to return after TightRope surgery on his ankle, coach Mike Tomlin stated Tuesday that he will stick with Rudolph in Saturday’s must-win regular-season finale against the Baltimore Ravens.
“Kenny’s availability is less than questionable this week,” Tomlin stated on Monday. “I expect him to be available for practice.” Having stated that, we must leave the ball in Mason Rudolph’s hands. He did a good job, and we did a good job in the last two weeks. We took care of the ball. He’s in charge of the ball. We are scoring points at a rate that we have not done all year. And because of the urgency of the situation and for those reasons, we’re going to leave the ball in his hands.”
To make the playoffs, the Steelers must defeat Baltimore and receive assistance from other teams during the last weekend of games.
Since Rudolph took over the starting role against the Cincinnati Bengals after replacing Mitch Trubisky in the waning minutes of the Steelers’ Week 15 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the Steelers offense has averaged 32 points and 432.5 yards per game. Rudolph completed 18 of 24 passes for 274 yards and no interceptions in the win over the Seattle Seahawks.
“He’s done a nice job,” remarked Tomlin of Rudolph. “He has a lot of confidence in himself, and it’s genuine.” I believe it is contagious. He plays aggressively, which I believe is beneficial, especially when you’re up against it. The calculated risk-taking connected with the pursuit of triumph is critical, and he has demonstrated it. But it’s more than what he’s done; it’s what we’ve done or what that collective has done.
“We run the ball quite effectively. We’ve been in manageable possession down scenarios for the last two weeks. We run the ball well in the red zone, especially yesterday, with three rushing touchdowns to add to the total. You know, when you’re acting and performing in that way, you can’t take on a lot of danger. As a result, it’s just been a positive trend for us. Our goal is to keep that trend going. We’re going into a tough environment against a tremendously excellent opponent, one who is obviously extremely heated. As a result, we must use all of the mojo at our disposal in order to win.”
Rudolph completed 68.5% of his throw attempts with two touchdowns in two starts, posting QBRs of 70.9 and 79.1, respectively. Meanwhile, Pickett has struggled during his second season, finishing with a 38.8 QBR while completing 62% of his attempts, six touchdowns, and four interceptions.
Rudolph is also averaging 282 yards per game, while Pickett is just 172.5 in 12 games. Rudolph, who was drafted in 2018, had a rocky start to his Steelers career, taking over the starting job for an injured Ben Roethlisberger in the second game of the 2019 season. That season, he started nine games and threw 13 touchdowns to 9 interceptions before being benched in favor of former practice squad quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges.
“There’s a fine line between being a backup and a Pro Bowler in the National Football League,” Tomlin stated in a statement. “They’re all experts.” They’re all really skilled at what they do.”
Pickett took part in only a few practices leading up to the last two games, but he was medically cleared to play against the Seahawks. However, Tomlin chose to start Rudolph and bench Pickett, with Trubisky as the backup, because Trubisky and Rudolph received more work at practice.
“That clarity didn’t come until later in the week,” Tomlin said of Pickett’s availability, “and it was about rep distribution and who was best prepared and positioned to help us win.” As a result, that’s the path we took.”
Though the Steelers will start Rudolph against the Ravens, Tomlin declined to comment on how this will effect the team’s long-term plans with Pickett or whether Pickett will return to the starting lineup if the Steelers make the playoffs. Pickett, who was drafted in 2022, has two years remaining on his contract, as well as a fifth-year option.
“It depends on what happens this week, to be quite honest with you, man,” Tomlin said of Pickett’s chances of making the playoffs. “We’re more of a day-to-day, week-to-week operation.” Hypotheticals and supposition are pointless at this stage. We have a lot of tangible issues and a lot of tangible work to do. We’re just not wasting time speculating and doing things like that.”
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