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The Case for Mason Rudolph in Pittsburgh

Is 2 > 7?

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There has been much consternation in Pittsburgh Steelers country over the injury to Ben Roethlisberger (who is looking more like a thumb all the time), but at least one person is bullish on Pittsburgh getting better under No. 2 than they were under No. 7.

That person is Rodger Sherman, and he writes for The Ringer. This week he wrote a great piece laying out the case for Rudolph (and Washington!) in the yellow and black.

For the most part, prognosticators have treated the Roethlisberger injury like an iceberg ripping through Pittsburgh’s steel hull. Before Week 2, FiveThirtyEight gave Pittsburgh a 46 percent chance of making the playoffs and expected the team to post a positive point differential for the season. Now, the Steelers are listed with an 8 percent chance of making the playoffs with the third-worst projected point differential in the league. [Ringer]

I think this actually has more to do with the 0-2 start than anything else. In the last 12 years only 12 of the 98 teams that have started 0-2 have gone on to make the playoffs. Here’s Sherman again.

I actually think the Steelers are in better position to succeed with Rudolph than they were with an injured 37-year-old Roethlisberger at quarterback. For starters, Big Ben was abysmal in his limited playing time this season. On 62 passes, Roethlisberger had 35 completions for 351 yards and an interception, putting him 29th or worse in completion percentage, yards per attempt, passer rating, and QBR.

In came Rudolph, and in one half, Pittsburgh scored more points than it did in the three with Roethlisberger as quarterback. Rudolph did throw an interception, but, well, you can blame Donte Moncrief for that. [Ringer]

I’m not deep in the NFL game so I didn’t realize BB had been that weak, but I do have takes on why this is the perfect time for Rudolph. First, one last thought from Sherman.

And throughout the game, Pittsburgh vastly increased its usage of play-action—a tool which basically always makes offenses more efficient, but has never been a staple of the offense with Roethlisberger. The Steelers, somehow, ran just one play out of play-action in their season-opening loss to the Patriots. Now, they realize play-action is a necessity to buy Rudolph time, and they’re running it.

Pittsburgh’s offense looked more modern once Rudolph got in the game. It was no longer an offense designed specifically for the traits of an aging franchise quarterback, but an offense that proved it could succeed elsewhere.

… Rudolph the deep-ball dime-disher and Washington the speedster work well together in theory and worked together in practice. Hopefully Washington turns into the player Pittsburgh thought it was drafting last year and takes some of the pressure off of JuJu Smith-Schuster after the departure of Brown. [Ringer]

Here’s my thing with all of this: The timing could not be more perfect for Rudolph. You walk in and don’t have to be the guy from Day 1. You get to learn within a strong infrastructure behind a Hall-of-Fame dude who — despite his childish public antics — has actually had an amazing career.

But you also don’t have to wait five years and go rusty on the thing you were drafted to do. It’s the best timing you could ask for, Rudolph — according to people who actually watch the games — is a bit more versatile in what he can do than Ben, and it sounds like everybody who needs to be bought in is bought in.

Only time will tell if Rudolph can Wally Pipp Big Ben, but there’s no better time for it to take place than right now. It wouldn’t be the first time Rudolph got thrust into a role unexpectedly and went on to experience a high level of success in the subsequent years.

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