Arcisure crowd is enthusiastic about Rudolph’s Play
by Bo Marchionte
Published December 23, 2023, 09:37 PM
Pittsburgh, PA – At 12, Mason Rudolph unwrapped a treehouse surprise on Christmas morning. Sitting at the podium, now 28, he said that treehouse was one of his all-time favorite gifts he ever received on Christmas morning. The same excitement that surged through him as a youth as he climbed into a world suspended among branches came to life again at Acrisure Stadium.
“But this is definitely up there,” Rudolph said of the Steelers 34-11 victory over Cincinnati on the eve of Christmas Eve. With his parents in attendance for the first time in what probably seemed like an eternity, Rudolph praised the man upstairs plenty for an opportunity to get the chance to start after nearly a two-year hiatus of that exact opportunity.
The last time Mason Rudolph looked so good he won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award in 2017 during his final season at Oklahoma State. Rudolph came out firing against the Cincinnati Bengals as the Steelers snapped a contentious three game skid that has put the team on the brink of missing the playoffs. Finishing with 290 yards passing on 17-of-27 completions along with two touchdowns and zero turnovers, he gave Pittsburgh the spark it has desperately needed.
“Man, really exciting win,” Mike Tomlin said after the Steelers 34-11 win over Cincinnati. “Appreciative of the effort and focus of the group. It was a total team effort in all three phases.”
The phase that has been phased out until tonight was the Steelers offense. Pittsburgh hit a splash play on the second play of the game, and it helped the Steelers dictate the style of play for the entirety of the game.
After a six-yard Najee Harris run, Rudolph connected with disgruntled George Pickens for a 86-yard touchdown pass that brought the Acrisure Stadium to their feet. It marked the first time Pickens has sniffed the end zone since Week 8 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Pickens would end up five yards shy of becoming the sixth Steelers’ receiver to eclipse 200-yards in a single-game with a career-high 195-yards on four receptions. . It’s however apparent that his mastery of the Bengals secondary is an easier task than controlling his temperament during this recent stretch of horrific offensive performances.
However, are we convinced after one game Rudolph and maintain his winning ways to carry Pittsburgh to victories over the last two weeks of the regular season. Pittsburgh heads west to take on the Seahawks on New Year’s Eve and finishes in Baltimore with a showdown with the Ravens. Rudolph is not immune to throwing the football, but his collegiate success has been absent since being drafted in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
The Steelers are 8-6 and despite their winning record, we’ve seen Pittsburgh’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act this season to know nothing is for certain with two weeks left to win out and have an opportunity to make the playoffs for the first time since 2021. That sentence reveals the current state of the Steelers organization when the possibility of making the playoffs itself is rewarded enough. Once upon a time the ‘Standard’ was Super Bowl appearances.
In the mafia it’s never personal, it’s always about business. Rudolph demonstrated his affinity for throwing the deep ball while at Oklahoma State. Is Pittsburgh too loyal to maintain the status quo? Not upsetting the apple cart, in other words possibly having better options on the roster but for whatever reason the draft status of a player may interfere with the internal strife. It might sound outlandish and most certainly this theory would be shot down immediately by anyone on staff.
When the crowd began to chant boisterously “Mason Rudolph” Saturday night it in my mind was a message to Tomlin and everyone associated with calling the shots in Pittsburgh that Rudolph should remain the man under center until further notice.
It was a vote of confidence by Steelers Nation that Mason was their man moving forward. Rudolph started eight games in his second season after Roethlisberger went on injured reserve with an elbow injury. The debut of Rudolph also coincided with an alarming number of players missing time. Pittsburgh eventually turned to Devlin Hodges and in what I call one of Mike Tomlin’s greatest coaching efforts to keep the Steelers at 8-8.
This is the best the offense has looked since the retirement of Roethlisberger at the conclusion of the 2021 season.
Photo Credit Frank Hyatt/College2Pro.com
