Madden Monday: Mason Rudolph should start at QB going into '24; Penguins' power play 'abjectly stinks'

Despite a strong finishing kick to the 2023-24 regular season, Mark Madden of TribLive and 105.9 The X isn’t expecting the Pittsburgh Steelers to push their stay in the playoffs beyond the first weekend.

During this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Madden says to look for the Steelers to be one-and-done after visiting Buffalo on Sunday, especially because star linebacker T.J. Watt is expected to miss the game with a knee injury.

“It ain’t gonna last long,” Madden said of the Steelers trip to the playoffs. “Buffalo is a 10-point favorite, which seems a bit excessive, actually. But I get it. Josh Allen is a one-man gang, and the Bills have a pretty good defense. … There’s a giant disparity between the two teams exacerbated by Watt not playing.”

One thing is certain from Madden’s point of view, though. It’s that the Steelers have to stick with Mason Rudolph at quarterback, regardless of whether or not the team still has long-term plans of going back to Kenny Pickett as the starter next year.

“I give Mason Rudolph a lot of credit,” Madden said. “He has just been unbelievable in all three games (that he has started), and he should not only be the starter for the playoff game — which I’m sure he will be. But he should be the starter going into next season as well. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t see how it logically can’t.”

While I agree with Madden’s sentiment, my expectation is that, regardless of Rudolph’s performance at the end of this season, the Steelers will still talk themselves into justifying putting Pickett back in as the starting QB in September. That’s regardless of whether or not Rudolph is still on the roster next year or if he leaves in free agency. After all, Pickett is a 2022 first-round selection, and the Steelers need to determine if his fifth-year option is going to be picked up by the end of next season.

The Steelers are going to be loath to admit making a mistake on a pick of that magnitude. So I bet he gets every opportunity to regain his starting job, even if that means Rudolph deciding to sign with another team next spring.

“He’s the best quarterback they have,” Madden said of Rudolph. “And if they keep him, he’ll be the best quarterback again next year. He’s clearly better than Kenny Pickett. I’m not suggesting you award Rudolph the starting job for next year, based on these three games plus the playoffs. I’m suggesting you award it to Rudolph based on Pickett’s 24 starts up till now in which he has been absolute horse manure.”

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Speaking of horse manure, that’s an easy transition into a discussion about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ power play.

Yes, it has registered a goal in each of its last three games. But the man-up unit is still only five for its last 33. That’s only 15.1%. On the season, the club is tracking at 14.6%, 26th in the league.

That’s despite having a wealth of offensive talent, such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Eric Karlsson and Jake Guentzel.

“Their power play just still abjectly stinks,” Madden said. “For them to fix it, they’re gonna have to tear it down and start over. In other words, just live with the notion that maybe Malkin shouldn’t be on it. Maybe Karlsson shouldn’t be on it. Try different stuff and make it better because it can’t be much worse. It can’t be about appeasing personalities, which is what it is now.”

Also, in the podcast, we talk about the Penguins’ upcoming game against the Flyers, Mike Tomlin’s perceived role in the Steelers’ turnaround, and if the Steelers got the more favorable draw in the first round as opposed to going to Kansas City.