I loved Mike Tomlin’s description of Mason Rudolph’s performance Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.
“Gritty.”
Rudolph had to love the compliment he received from his old pal, Cleveland defensive end Myles Garrett, as the Browns were celebrating their 24-22 win and their first trip to the NFL playoffs since 2002, so long ago that Rudolph was just 7 years old when it happened.
“Myles came over and said, ‘Good game,’ ” Rudolph said.
Garrett was right.
It was a good game by Rudolph.
Maybe not quite good enough for the Steelers to win. One poor decision by Rudolph led to a killer interception and a Browns touchdown. Another bad throw on a late 2-point conversion try kept the Steelers from forcing overtime.
Maybe Rudolph’s play wasn’t good enough to make most people believe that he will be able to take over for Ben Roethlisberger in 2022 and lead the Steelers to a Super Bowl. He wouldn’t be the first quarterback in franchise history to come up short. The team went 26 years between Terry Bradshaw’s last Super Bowl win and Roethlisberger’s first.
But Rudolph was good enough to make me think he is going to have a long NFL career and make a lot of money before he is finished. It seemed as if just about everybody thought he was a bust coming into the game, the man who lost his starting job to Duck Hodges, of all people, last season when he blew his big chance as the injured Roethlisberger’s replacement. I’m guessing those same critics weren’t looking at him as a bust Sunday night.
People remember what happened to Rudolph when the Steelers played in Cleveland in November last season. He threw four interceptions, was sacked four times and was clubbed over the head with his helmet by Garrett. People remember his next start against the Cincinnati Bengals, when he was benched for Hodges early in the third quarter. He looked timid, couldn’t move the offense and threw an interception.
What people forget is that this was the second consecutive game in which Rudolph played well. He replaced the benched Hodges in the penultimate game last season against the New York Jets and was on his way to leading the Steelers to a victory when he tripped over center B.J. Finney’s foot, lost his balance and was squashed like a bug by cornerback Maurice Canady. Rudolph’s season was over because of a serious shoulder injury that nearly left him with a punctured aorta.
Rudolph waited a long time for the opportunity Sunday, which came when Tomlin decided to rest and protect Roethlisberger and Maurkice Pouncey, among others, before the playoffs next Sunday.
“I thought his performance the whole game was great,” J.C. Hassenauer, Pouncey’s replacement at center, said. “I was so proud of him the way he stepped up this week. He led our team. He set the tempo. He was the leader.”
If nothing else, Rudolph showed that he can throw a really nice deep ball. Give Chase Claypool credit for pulling in a 28-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-down play, outfighting cornerback Terrance Mitchell to do it. But Rudolph’s passes for gains of 41 yards to Diontae Johnson and 41 to Claypool were just about perfect. So was his 47-yard pass to Johnson to set up the touchdown that pulled the Steelers within 24-22. He had another near-miss when his long pass for Claypool tipped off Claypool’s right fingers. His best pass might have been a 26-yard dart to JuJu Smith-Schuster, the ball put in just the right spot that cornerback Marvin Stewart Jr. couldn’t knock it down.
“We knew we wanted to challenge them deep and take our shots,” Rudolph said.
Rudolph did his best scrambling when asked if he felt like he proved he could be a good NFL quarterback. He totally ignored the question. Instead, proving that he has learned plenty from Roethlisberger, he gave all the credit to Claypool, Johnson and Smith-Schuster. He also praised his offensive line, without Pouncey, for allowing just one sack and generally keeping him clean.
The one time Rudolph’s protection broke down, the Browns turned it into an interception and 30-yard return to the Steelers’ 20 by Stewart Jr. Benny Snell Jr. couldn’t pick up blitzing linebacker Jacob Phillips, who got in Rudolph’s face and forced him to throw the ball early. Rudolph was hit in the head by safety Ronnie Harrison as he released the ball, which should have been a roughing-the-passer penalty, at least according to CBS rules analyst/former NFL referee Gene Steratore. But that doesn’t change the fact Rudolph shouldn’t have thrown that pass.
“You don’t want to compound that error,” Rudolph said. “You just want to throw the ball away.”
Rudolph also wished he had the 2-point conversion play back. Although he said he believed Claypool was “sling-shotted” on the coverage, his pass was high and didn’t give Claypool any chance to make the catch.
“I’ve got to make a better throw there,” Rudolph said.
Still, those two plays and the loss aside, Rudolph had to be feeling pretty good about himself on the bus ride back to Pittsburgh. A lot better, certainly, than he was on the previous bus ride home from Cleveland.
“I don’t know that I was surprised by him,” Tomlin said. “It was reasonable to expect improvement in his play. This guy’s been working extremely hard, really, for 12 calendar months. This was his first extended action of the 2020 football season. We anticipated him being better. And he was.”
Significantly better.
Gritty, at the very least.
