Steelers QB Mason Rudolph 'scheduled to start' over Kenny Pickett vs. Seahawks
Mason Rudolph was picked to start against the Cincinnati Bengals because Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said he wanted to give the offense "a spark."
The quarterback repaid his coach's faith in him with 290 passing yards, two touchdowns and a turnover-over free performance in a 34-11 win over the Bengals on Saturday. Christmas came two days early for a Steelers team trying to end a three-game slide and keep its playoff hopes alive.
In addition to that, Rudolph helped get receiver George Pickens back on track by finding him for three plays of 40 yards or more and connecting on two deep touchdown throws. With Rudolph under center, Pittsburgh produced the most points in a game since a 41-37 loss against the Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 21, 2021.
So on Tuesday, Tomlin rewarded Rudolph by announcing that he'll be the quarterback "scheduled to start" when Pittsburgh plays against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
"We're in the same position with Kenny as we were last week," Tomlin said via ESPN. "We'll give him a few reps and see where that leads us. ... Obviously we have a great deal more comfort because of what we've seen in-stadium from Mason Rudolph and that helps us, but we still really are in the same posture. He's got the ball to start the week, and we'll see where Kenny [Pickett] is from a mobility perspective and then kind of go from there and playing day by day based on the things that we see from that perspective."
Pickett, who had "Tight Rope" surgery on his ankle on Dec. 4, participated in individual drills last week, while Rudolph handled the first-team reps.
When reporters asked Tomlin about what would happen if Pickett did well in practice, the coach said he wouldn't play into hypotheticals. For now, Rudolph will have the ball in his hands, and the Steelers' playoff chances with it.
"We'll see what the performance looks like tomorrow," Tomlin said of Pickett. "Mason Rudolph has the ball as we stand here today."
