Despite Kenny Pickett being cleared, Mason Rudolph will remain the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Saturday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, head coach Mike Tomlin announced Monday.
Mason Rudolph To Start for Pittsburgh Steelers
Though Pickett has been medically cleared to return following tightrope surgery on his ankle, coach Mike Tomlin said on Monday he’s sticking with Rudolph at quarterback in a must-win regular-season finale against the Ravens on Saturday.
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“Kenny’s availability is less [in] question this week,” Tomlin said Monday. “I anticipate him being available to practice. That being said, we’ve got to leave the ball in Mason Rudolph’s hands. He’s done a good job, and we’ve done a good job in the most recent two weeks.
“We’ve taken care of the ball. He’s taking care of the ball. We score points at a rate [at] which we hadn’t done to this point this year. And with the urgency of the moment and because of those reasons, we’re going to leave the ball in his hands.”
The Steelers can make the playoffs if they lose at Baltimore, but their path is easier if they can beat the Ravens on Saturday and get help from other teams throughout the final weekend of games.
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Rudolph replaced Mitch Trubisky in the final minutes of the Week 15 loss to the Indianapolis Colts and has since elevated the Steelers’ offense, as they have averaged 32 points and 432.5 yards of offense per game.
In the win against the Seattle Seahawks, Rudolph completed 18 of 24 attempts for 274 yards with no interceptions.
“He’s done a nice job,” Tomlin said of Rudolph. “He’s got a great deal of confidence in himself, and it is real. I think it’s contagious. He’s aggressive in style of play, and I think that’s helpful, particularly when you’re up against it. The calculated risk-taking associated with the pursuit of victory is important, and he’s displayed those things, but it’s more than obviously what he has done, it’s what we have done or that collective has done.”
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Rudolph has recorded QBRs of 70.9 and 79.1 in two starts as he completed 68.5% of his pass attempts with two touchdowns. Pickett, meanwhile, has struggled throughout his second season and has a 38.8 QBR while completing 62% of his attempts with six touchdowns and four interceptions.
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Rudolph is also averaging 282 passing yards per game, while Pickett averaged 172.5 per game in 12 starts.
Pickett was a limited participant in each practice leading up to the last two games, and he was medically cleared to play against the Seahawks. However, Tomlin opted to start Rudolph and make Pickett inactive with Trubisky as the backup since Trubisky and Rudolph got more work throughout practice.
“That clarity didn’t come until later in the week,” Tomlin said of Pickett’s availability. “It was about the distribution of reps and who was best prepared and positioned to help us win, and so that’s the direction that we went with.”
Tomlin declined to say whether Pickett will return to the starting position should the Steelers make the playoffs.
“It depends on what happens this week, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said. “We’re more of a day-by-day, week-by-week outfit. At this point, hypotheticals and speculation is fruitless for us. We got so many tangible challenges and so much tangible work to do. We’re just not wasting a lot of time speculating and things of that nature.”
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