Predicting Steelers game-plan in Mason Rudolph’s first start

Mason Rudolph will make his first start in a must-win game against the 49ers. Here’s what the Steelers may try to do to help him out this week.

For the first time since he was drafted back in 2004, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the remainder of the season.

Ben’s injured right elbow required surgery, and he has been ruled out for the final 14 games of the year. This means that second-year quarterback, Mason Rudolph, will be leading the charge from here on out.

The Steelers have been a very pass-happy team over the past few years. In 2017, they were second in the league in pass attempts at 38.1 per game. Last year, under the direction of new offensive coordinator, Randy Fichtner, they passed a whopping 43.1 times per game. This was good for number one in the league in this department by over 3 attempts per game.

While a pass-happy offense can sometimes help a team put up points in a hurry, there are loads of issues that come with it. Ben Roethlisberger threw more interceptions than any quarterback in the league last year, and turnovers become hard to avoid. A quarterback is also more apt to get sacked the more he drops back, and keeping Rudolph healthy will be critical if this team is to stand a chance in 2019.

Transitioning from Ben Roethlisberger to Mason Rudolph, I expect changes coming for the Steelers. Mike Tomlin and Randy Fichtner will likely depend more on the run game (which has failed to take off so far this year). The Steelers are also likely to sprinkle in more play-action passes with Rudolph under center.

Pittsburgh has a lot of faith in Mason Rudolph (as evidenced by trading away a potentially high first-round draft choice this year for a player they believe can help their team win right now).

However, the Steelers aren’t going to force Rudolph to be a gun-slinger from day one. Rather, I expect them to rely heavily on the run game and their new-look defense to keep them in games this year.

Don’t get me wrong, Mason Rudolph will be asked to make plays with his arm, and his first appearance in the NFL was very promising. But throwing young quarterbacks into the fire often ends in disaster.

The Steelers travel to San Francisco this week in a must-win matchup against the 49ers. Rudolph will need to be sharp if the Steelers want to avoid dropping to 0-3 on the season. I expect Pittsburgh to pound the ball on the ground and trust their defense in this one to come away with the win.