In wake of benching, Mason Rudolph vows team-first attitude for Steelers

Chris Adamski
Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019 2:42 p.m. | Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019 2:42 p.m.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph practices before the game in Cincinnati last week.

Mason Rudolph understood Mike Tomlin had a decision to make, and it was one that could adversely affect Rudolph.

So when the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach told the second-year quarterback that Devlin Hodges was starting Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, Rudolph had no choice but to take it in stride.

“I thought there was obviously a chance,” Rudolph said, “but … I was not going to change my mindset. Once that happened, once he decided to make that decision, I was going to make sure I was still preparing and understanding you are one play away and still need to be a good teammate. That’s all you can do in this situation.”

Rudolph:

A third-round draft pick who won the Johnny Unitas Award as the nation’s top college quarterback in 2017, Rudolph said he was benched twice before: “once in a college for kind of a half and once in high school.”

This time, it was 8½ starts in his NFL career when Tomlin pulled Rudolph last week after a second-half series at the winless Cincinnati Bengals. Hodges threw a touchdown pass on his third play to give the Steelers the lead.

They won, 16-10, and Tomlin announced two days later Hodges — an undrafted rookie from FCS Samford — would start against the team that beat the Steelers just 17 days ago. Rudolph threw four interceptions in that game.

“There is some past experiences where you do draw from,” Rudolph said of his brief benchings at Northwestern High School in Rock, Hill, S.C., and at Oklahoma State. “I conquered that, and I think I’m going to conquer this the same way. It’s going to be a matter of staying true to myself and believing in myself, which I always have, and staying in the fight.”

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Rudolph swatted away a litany of possible rationalizations for his recent poor play:

• Before suffering a concussion as part of a helmet-leading hit from the Baltimore Ravens’ Earl Thomas on Oct. 6, Rudolph had a 102.5 passer rating. In the 4½ games since, Rudolph’s passer rating is 67.9.

“I was cleared by the best specialists in the world in that field,” Rudolph said, “and I definitely don’t feel any repercussions from that specific injury.”

• Rudolph’s benching against the Bengals came 10 distraction-filled days after his on-field skirmish with Myles Garrett in Cleveland. Garrett was suspended for the remainder of the season for ripping off Rudolph’s helmet and swinging it at Rudolph’s head, and the Browns’ Larry Ogunjobi added a blind-side shove to the ground.

Rudolph said he was “clear-headed” heading into the Bengals game.

“Just got to play better,” he said.

• Word leaked a basis for Garrett’s appeal of his suspension was Rudolph directed a slur toward him. Although Garrett has stood by his assertion, the NFL said there was no evidence of one, and Steelers teammates dismissed that accusation.

“As soon as that last kind of allegation was made by him, it was a bad day,” Rudolph said. “But I kind of handled that, and I moved forward.”

"We want to go and score every drive, but at the same time, it’s about taking care of the ball and doing what it takes to win." — #Steelers QB Devlin Hodgeshttps://t.co/euLECrjCSu

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) November 28, 2019

Moving forward is a theme for Rudolph in emerging from a two-week span in which so much has gone wrong.

But as Tomlin said in announcing his decision to start Hodges against the Browns “ (it) means nothing about our intended plans for the foreseeable future or the trajectory of Mason’s career.”

Rudolph is taking that to heart.

“He is a competitor,” offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said. “We had a nice conversation (Tuesday). We will have continued conversations throughout this process. Everything that we do in football, as in life, we can learn from. If we choose to make it a positive, we will. If we choose to make it a negative, then I don’t know that anyone is going to grow. I know he is going to choose it to be a positive in some way.”

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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.