Similar to what happened with their Orange and Brown rivals west of Cleveland, the Steelers’ former third-string quarterback has given the offense a shocking boost in efficiency with the playoffs on the line .
In two starts, Mason Rudolph is 35 of 51 (68.1%) for 564 yards – a whopping 11 yards per attempt – with two touchdowns and no interceptions in two wins in which the Steelers scored more than 30 points. This is the Steelers’ first 30-plus points in consecutive games since October 2020.
And much of what Rudolph has done as a passer dates back to his days as a prodigious producer at Oklahoma State before Pittsburgh selected him in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Sample sizes matter, but all we can do now is use a two-game sample for Rudolph, and in those two starts, in which the Steelers offense did a 180, he attempted a pass of more than 20 meters on the ground with 14.8%. of his throws. Before his injury, Kenny Pickett’s throw rate was only 9.5%.
Now, Trubisky’s was almost identical to Rudolph’s at 14.9%, but the former No. 2 overall pick was horrible on those long balls, completing just 4 of 16 throws for 101 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Pickett finished 11 of 31 for 389 yards with one score and two picks.
Rudolph is 4 of 8 for 181 yards and a touchdown.
So why is deep shooting important to Pittsburgh?
Anyone who has watched even a quarter of Steelers football from last year knows that the organization struck gold again in the second round with cobwebbed George Pickens. Not getting him the ball down the field represented huge untapped potential for a struggling offense.
With Pickett and Trubisky quarterbacks clearly facing vertical passing difficulties, Pickens was not being used to his full potential. It felt like one last effort to gather a spark offensively, Pickett would throw a back shoulder attempt in the fourth quarter against Pickens that would usually be brought back, but often that splash was too little, too late.
Pickens accounted for all four of Rudolph’s completions on the field over the past two weeks.
Rudolph throws deep with a moonball style, giving his receivers plenty of time to field the ball and adjust to it before making a play. He understands with this high arc trajectory that the ball must be launched early on the descent to prevent the safeties from coming to help the corner.
Take the example of the dagger touchdown against the Bengals:
Against the Seahawks, Rudolph showed more confidence in his arm strength, I believe, slightly improved. This proved to be integral to a few deep completions from Pickens.
It was a huge connection on a third-and-6 with a four-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Nice throw; routine, superb catch from Pickens:
And Rudolph’s propensity to successfully push the deep ball dates back to his college days. In his final season at Oklahoma State, he finished seventh in the nation in adjusted downfield success rate (51.1%) among all quarterbacks with at least 50 deep ball attempts. His 1,712 long ball throwing yards ranked second in the nation and his 17 touchdowns ranked third.
In two games with the Rudolph-Pickens ratio, the Steelers have eight passing plays of 20 yards or more. Pittsburgh has averaged just two of those plays in the other 15 contests this season.
Rudolph was also surgical in the fast play, which acts as a perfect counter to the long ball. On passes completed in less than 2.4 seconds, he is 17 of 21 for 280 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He especially knows exactly where to go with the football on underthrows based on his defensive looks.
Check out this third-and-fourth conversion to Pat Freiermuth. Rudolph understood that Diontae Johnson’s stick route worked as a natural fit for the linebacker trying to get into the flat to cover the tight end, so he unloaded the ball immediately after gathering the snap low.
There was no way the sinking Julian Love (#20) could make it to Freiermuth in time. The result? Gain of 25 meters.
Rudolph is used to making quick decisions in a fast-paced game. Quick processing on short throws was an important part of his operation of the air offense at Oklahoma State. In 2017, Rudolph led college football with 2,544 yards on throws completed in less than 2.5 seconds and was second in yards per attempt (9.2).
The Steelers offense has become considerably more balanced now that there is both a serious deep play threat and a good chance of the right decision being made quickly on short, high-percentage throws. That’s why they move the ball more efficiently (third in EPA per play over the last two weeks) and have scored 30-plus points in back-to-back contests.
This transformation happened with Pittsburgh’s third-string quarterback on the field. This would normally be an incredible development, but it’s certainly not an incredible development in this NFL season.
