The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their first game since before the bye week. Here’s what went wrong for quarterback Mason Rudolph against the Browns.
Every week, we think that quarterback Mason Rudolph is ready to take a leap forward. Though the Steelers somehow kept finding ways to win, it was largely in spite of Rudolph’s play; not because of it.
Pittsburgh’s defense has been phenomenal over the past six weeks. But even with all of the success and turnovers they have created, Mason Rudolph has struggled to get anything going. In fact, things couldn’t have gone much worse for the second-yeard quarterback against the Cleveland Browns.
The offensive line continued to collapse around him, and the Steelers lost their top two receivers. While it may seem like the perfect opportunity for a Cinderella story, Rudolph’s performance was anything but.
In fact, Rudolph had one of the worst performances I have seen from a quarterback in quite some time. He threw the ball 44 times for just 221 yards, the Steelers quarterback managed just 1 touchdown to 4 interceptions.
Though the Steelers trailed the entire game, Pittsburgh was just a score away from tying things up in the 4th quarter until Rudolph threw a pair of interceptions to seal the deal. The Browns eventually defeated the Steelers with a final score of 21-7.
Things got really dicey in the final seconds of the game, as Myles Garrett ripped off Rudolph’s helmet and swung it at him. Maurkice Pouncey was also in the scuffle – punching and kicking at Garrett well after the play. Fortunately, Rudolph appeared to leave the field without an injury after the game.
At 5-5 on the season, the Steelers still control their own destiny moving forward. With games against teams like the Bengals and Jets upcoming, it’s still entirely possible Pittsburgh could make a push towards the playoffs. However, something has got to be done about this offense.
I’m not sure if the Steelers need a switch at quarterback, but with more than a half a season of subpar play under his belt, Mason Rudolph should be on very thin ice. Mike Tomlin and Randy Fichtner will go back to the drawing board and try to figure out how things can improve on offense moving forward.