Rudolph is our quarterback.

[snarky]

Rudolph absolutely should leave if someone comes calling. Is there any reason to believe Tomlin will give him a fair shot in camp next year? If he gets an opportunity to go somewhere else, I think he takes it and gets far, far away from Tomlin and the Steelers. I did not like the Pickett selection but I was willing to live with it if it meant the team was going to take a volume approach to finding Ben's successor. But a volume approach isn't playing a guy just because he was a first round draft pick and burying a guy in the depth chart because they overpaid for Trubisky. A volume approach means an open competition for the start and benching guys when they aren't performing to 'the standard'.

Mike Tomlin is 17 seasons into his HC career and he still doesn't know how to use his timeouts effectively or manage the clock in general. Not because he couldn't if he wanted to but because he's stubborn as hell and seems to have a problem coming to terms with being wrong. If Rudolph came back to 'compete' for the starting position, any sane person would expect it to be a forgone conclusion that KP would prevail simply based on who Tomlin is.

Frankly, I'm pissed that Rudolph wasn't given a chance to be the starter from camp onward and we have wasted two such chances on MT and KP.

[Sword]

When the o-line is dominating and both backs are running over 100 yards - Mason didn?t need to be a 400 yard passer. His game was because of the o-line performance, not in spite of it. Let?s see what this week brings. I think he can sling it if necessary.

The defense has to respect the pass by the QB in order to run well?.And a balance of pass and run?

[LPMAN]

I'll wait for the official stats to come out but I was surprised by the lack of pressure on Rudolph. Has the OL suddenly learned how to pass block? How is it all these positives have come with a change of QB when the system is supposedly 'college level'?

Some of he lack of serious pressure or sacks is Rudolph stands in the pocket with more poise, looks over the field quicker & delivers a quicker pass. You can't see wides breaking open if you are leaving pocket too soon with happy feet, and many times Kenny rolls into the sack when he just needed to step up in pocket & keep eyes down the field.

I'm not saying that is all on Kenny many sacks were on the OL. But it's a lot easier as an offensive lineman when you know where your QB is going to be the first few seconds, so you know what direction to try & block the defender towards.

[Northern_Blitz]

Come on now. I do think we are over correcting to the extreme. Was it an OK game?

Well extrapolate his two starts over a career and he is in the hall of fame. While that is silly (he will throw picks, only faced weak defenses etc) to call his play OK is a little extreme I’d say.

If the worst criticism on this 75 percent completion rate is that Pickens had to jump to make catches I think the judging is just a little unreasonable.

I'm just setting a floor.

Not getting overly excited about 2 games.

But when it's 3rd and 6, I think we can convert it now.

[LPMAN]

If we are over reacting to how good Rudolph was then yinz are under reacting to how bad Kenny was this year.

Heck we didn't punt until almost the 4th quarter. Did Rudolph have a differnt OL & skill players than Kenny? No in fact some were saying Najee, Friermuth, DJ & Pickens were way underperforming & maybe trade them all & start over.

[Captain Lemming]

If we are over reacting to how good Rudolph was then yinz are under reacting to how bad Kenny was this year.

Heck we didn't punt until almost the 4th quarter. Did Rudolph have a differnt OL & skill players than Kenny? No in fact some were saying Najee, Friermuth, DJ & Pickens were way underperforming & maybe trade them all & start over.

Wait! We still have a punter?

[fordfixer]

Wait! We still have a punter?

yep he punted once yesterday

[SteelCrazy]

It?s very simple. Mason Rudolph of 2021 had extreme happy feet. He couldn?t get settled.

Mason of 2023 at times still shows some anxious tendencies but while in the pocket he is so calm he almost frozen from the shoulders down, only moving through progressions.

He learned a lot watching and studying. Kenny P and Mitch both suck at progressions.

That?s the difference in a nutshell

[JTP53609]

You know what’s crazy, was Rudolph was our starter in 2019, the duck Hodges year, that seems like it wasn’t long ago but jeez it’s 2024….

[Northern_Blitz]

If we are over reacting to how good Rudolph was then yinz are under reacting to how bad Kenny was this year.

Heck we didn't punt until almost the 4th quarter. Did Rudolph have a differnt OL & skill players than Kenny? No in fact some were saying Najee, Friermuth, DJ & Pickens were way underperforming & maybe trade them all & start over.

I agree many were hoping that it wasn't Kenny. That it was a bunch of other things.

[Eich]

I agree many were hoping that it wasn't Kenny. That it was a bunch of other things.

And it still may not be all Kenny. His ONE game back after Canada was sacked, produced the first game over 400 yards in forever.

Against the Bungles, withOUT Canada:
Mason: 17/27 63.0% 290 YDS 10.7 AVG 2 TDs, Team 368 yards, 13 passing 1st downs.
Kenny: 24/33 72.7% 278 YDS 8.4 AVG 1 TD Dropped, Team 421 yards, 15 passing 1st downs.


Am I missing something here? It's not like Mason was Brady and Kenny was Kent Graham. They had very similar results against the same defense, with the obvious shortfall being in points scored.

[T.Ferguson]

And it still may not be all Kenny. His ONE game back after Canada was sacked, produced the first game over 400 yards in forever.

Against the Bungles, withOUT Canada:
Mason: 17/27 63.0% 290 YDS 10.7 AVG 2 TDs, Team 368 yards, 13 passing 1st downs.
Kenny: 24/33 72.7% 278 YDS 8.4 AVG 1 TD Dropped, Team 421 yards, 15 passing 1st downs.


Am I missing something here? It's not like Mason was Brady and Kenny was Kent Graham. They had very similar results against the same defense, with the obvious shortfall being in points scored.

I've already pointed this out and it's basically been ignored. Some folks just don't like KP at this point, I think part of it frustration over the offensive ineptitude we've all suffered from for years now. Some of it may also be a way to steer away blame on coaching failures.

[Chucktownsteeler]

From my view KP8 don?t produce the splash plays Mason does, which in turn opens up the ground game.

Not as many 3 and out either, which gives the defense a rest.

Plus scoring points also gives the defense some breathing room.

[WindyCitySteel]

From my view KP8 don?t produce the splash plays Mason does, which in turn opens up the ground game.

Not as many 3 and out either, which gives the defense a rest.

Plus scoring points also gives the defense some breathing room.

The ground game opened up long before Mason took over, and they've staked the D to early leads in multiple games, only to watch them gak it away.

[Eich]

From my view KP8 don?t produce the splash plays Mason does, which in turn opens up the ground game.

Not as many 3 and out either, which gives the defense a rest.

Plus scoring points also gives the defense some breathing room.

I just don't know how anyone has any real point of view when KP has had ONE game and Mason has had TWO games post-Canada. There are no trends to be found with such a small sample size. All we know is that BOTH KP AND Mason have lead the best two offensive performances of the past two seasons, once Canada was axed, and against bottom-tier teams.

I'm rooting for Mason. But I also remember how he looked pre-Canada and it wasn't all that great.