Mason Rudolph Faces Baker Mayfield and the Browns in Thursday Night Football

We’ll finally get to see what a true Mason Rudolph vs. Baker Mayfield showdown looks like when Rudolph has a good defense on his side.

The two former Bedlam rivals will face off Thursday night in Thursday Night Football when Rudolph’s Steelers head to Cleveland to take on the woeful Baker-led Browns. Pittsburgh is 5-4 coming into this game on a four-game win streak, while the Browns, 3-6, enter the night having lost four of their last five.

Rudolph hasn’t been stellar in place of injured quarterback Ben Roethlisberger this season, but thus far he hasn’t been asked to be anything but a game manager. In his last three wins as the team’s starter, he’s completed 62.6 percent of his passes and thrown only four touchdowns to two interceptions.

That’s in large part because the Steelers defense has risen to near the top of the NFL; entering Thursday, the unit ranks third in adjusted defensive DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) having scored touchdowns in three of their last four outings and having forced a combined 14 turnovers in that span. It held the Sean McVay-coached Rams to just 12 points in a win on Sunday.

As for Mayfield, he’s been asked to be the team’s savior … and has been one of the big disappointments. Behind a treacherous offensive line, he’s thrown 12 interceptions and completed only 59.9 percent of his passing attempts, both ranking in the bottom two among NFL quarterbacks who have started more than six games on the season (he’s also on Kyle Porter’s fantasy team in our PFB+ members league which is both sad and funny).

Rudolph ranks in the middle of the league in completion percentage and interceptions thrown.

With two middling offenses, Mayfield-Rudolph on Thursday may actually be the first defensive shootout between the two. In three prior showdowns, Mayfield got the better of Rudolph. OU won in those games 58-23, 38-20, and finally 62-52. (Rudolph only took one snap in the 58-23 OU win.)

That 62-52 was an all-timer, and, probably, quite the opposite of how Thursday will go down. Early gambling lines from Vegas Insider tab it as the third-lowest over/under points total of the week, with a total score of 41.5.

“The last one I played with him in college was a good one, an exciting one, but I think it’s all a little bit different now,” Mayfield told ESPN in a story published Thursday detailing their bromantic background. “I’m sure as the years go on, we will continue something, but it’s different now.”