Steelers will stick with Mason Rudolph at QB in Week 18
The Steelers are riding with the hot hand.
Head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters in his Monday press conference that Mason Rudolph will start Pittsburgh's Week 18 matchup against Baltimore.
The Steelers have won two straight games since moving to Rudolph as the club's starter after Mitch Trubisky faltered when Kenny Pickett went down with an ankle injury.
“I think Kenny’s availability is less in question this week. I anticipate him being available to practice. That being said, we’re going to leave the ball in Mason Rudolph’s hands,” Tomlin said, via Chris Adamski of trivlive.com. “He’s done a good job and we’ve done a good job in the most recent two weeks. He’s taken care of the ball, we’ve taken care of the ball. We’ve scored points at a rate in 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.”
Rudolph finished Sunday's 30-23 win 18-of-24 passing for 274 yards. He was 17-of-27 for 290 yards with two touchdowns in the Week 16 victory over Cincinnati.
Before suffering his ankle injury against the Cardinals in Week 13, Pickett had completed 62 percent of his throws for 2,070 yards with six touchdowns and four interceptions. He also had put together three game-winning drives.
“But I say all those things with the understanding that I know Kenny is very capable,” Tomlin added. “And particularly as it pertains to this matchup, Kenny has led us to victory late in the game the last two times we’ve played Baltimore.
"So, we feel like we have two capable guys. We’ll proceed into the week the same way we did last week, but just knowing that his availability is less in question.”
Tomlin also noted that Pickett was cleared to play in Week 17 against Seattle but the head coach chose not to dress him. That seems likely to change this week with Pickett being more available for practice.
The Steelers likely need a win and some help to make it to the playoffs. But Pittsburgh getting to the postseason is not at all out of the question as the team enters the final week of the regular season.
