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The Pittsburgh Steelers are turning to Mason Rudolph at quarterback in hopes of salvaging their season.
Coach Mike Tomlin said Monday that Rudolph, a six-year veteran who hasn’t started a meaningful game since 2021, will start on Saturday against the Bengals if Kenny Pickett’s surgically repaired right ankle isn’t healthy in time.
Rudolph replaces Mitch Trubisky, who struggled in losses to the Patriots and Colts while filling in for Pickett.
“We’ve got a great deal of comfort with (Rudolph),” Tomlin said. “Why are we making the change, man? We don’t like what we’re looking at and the consistency of it. What I mean is we’re not scoring enough points.”
Not by a long shot. The Steelers (7-7) are 28th in scoring and haven’t scored more than 18 points in each of their past five games, a stretch in which they’ve gone just 1-4 to squander the momentum generated by a somewhat surprising 6-3 start.
The only win during their current slide came at Cincinnati (8-6), when they rolled up 421 yards in the first game since firing offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
The good times haven’t lasted. The Steelers followed up the win over the Bengals by producing 321 yards, 264 yards and 216 yards in losses to the Cardinals, Patriots and Colts. Pickett went down late in the first half against the Cardinals and Trubisky proved mistake-prone.
The No. 2 overall draft pick in 2017 and a Pro Bowler in 2020, while playing for the Bears, threw three touchdowns but also three interceptions since taking over for Pickett, including a pair of poor throws against the Colts on wayward heaves downfield.
Enter Rudolph, a third-round pick in 2018 who played a large chunk of the 2019 season while Ben Roethlisberger recovered from right elbow surgery.
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Publish date : 2023-12-18 19:22:05
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