Mike Tomlin makes potentially seismic decision of Mason Rudolph over healthy Kenny Pickett

It was a short passage among a 170-word answer to the first question Mike Tomlin was asked during his weekly news conference Monday.

And while Tomlin downplayed the long-term significance of what he said, a potentially seismic change in the organizational outlook was delivered via 10 simple words.

“We are gonna leave the ball in Mason Rudolph’s hands.”

Via his strong play and team offensive production not seen in quite some time, Rudolph earned a third consecutive start for the Pittsburgh Steelers as they try to extend their season.

Tomlin said Kenny Pickett was healthy enough to play in Sunday’s game at the Seattle Seahawks and that he anticipates Pickett will be able to practice throughout the coming week and be available for Saturday’s regular-season finale at the Baltimore Ravens. But despite those acknowledgments, Tomlin is choosing to continue to ride the hot hand of Rudolph, the team’s third-stringer the past two years.

“He’s done a good job, and we’ve done a good job in the most recent two weeks,” Tomlin said, referencing Rudolph guiding wins at home against the Cincinnati Bengals and at the Seahawks. “We’ve taken care of the ball, he’s taken care of the ball. We’ve scored points at a rate at 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.”

Related:

• Mark Madden: Mason Rudolph has earned Steelers' starting job, but Mike Tomlin doesn't like to be wrong
• Steelers notebook: Mike Tomlin focused on Ravens, not other games or another Saturday kick
• Here's how the Steelers can make the playoffs

Rudolph has completed 35 of 51 passes for 564 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions the past two games, improving to 7-4-1 as a starter in his career. In making his first starts since November 2021, Rudolph has directed the Steelers to their two highest-scoring games of the past two seasons. Winners by scores of 34-11 and 30-23, respectively, the Steelers also have produced two of their three highest yardage totals (397 and 468) for a game over the past two seasons.

That time frame coincides with when Pickett joined the team as the No. 20 overall pick. In part because of that status as a first-round pick, Pickett has been thought of as the future franchise quarterback and face of the team. In that context, Tomlin effectively benching Pickett for the Steelers’ most important game of the season comes with some baggage.

Asked directly who the best quarterback on his roster right now is, Tomlin declined to make a delineation between Rudolph — re-signed in May on a one-year deal for a league-minimum $1.08 million salary — or Pickett.

“That’s probably more of an end-of-the-year type analysis,” Tomlin said. “And we’re on a short week, and we’re trying to put together a formula to win this game.”

While a variety of scenarios exist for the Steelers (9-7) to qualify for the playoffs, the simplest is a win in Baltimore coupled with a loss by either the Buffalo Bills or Jacksonville Jaguars.

Should the Steelers extend their season, Tomlin would not commit to who he would choose to start at quarterback in a potential playoff game.

“It depends on what happens this week, to be quite honest with you,” he said. “We’re more of a day-by-day, week-by-week outfit. At this point, hypotheticals and speculation is fruitless for us. We got so many tangible challenges and so much tangible work to do. We’re just not wasting a lot of time speculating.”

Pickett has not played since undergoing surgery after suffering an ankle injury during a Dec. 3 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Mitch Trubisky — twice signed to contracts over the past 22 months — played most of 2 ½ games in relief, but the Steelers lost all three. Tomlin called on Rudolph to replace an ineffective Trubisky in the final minutes Dec. 16 at Indianapolis.

In the two weeks since then, Pickett has been a partial participant at each of the Steelers’ practices. Last week, Pickett said he felt healthy enough to play.

Tomlin has cited Pickett’s limited mobility in choosing not to have him in uniform for the past two games. Despite medical clearance of Pickett by training/medical personnel, Tomlin curiously did not designate Pickett as the “emergency” No. 3 QB on Sunday. That could have been a “free” gameday roster spot.

Tomlin repeatedly downplayed queries into Pickett’s status as the team’s long-term starter or franchise QB.

“We can waste a lot of time this week speculating in those ways,” Tomlin said.

In explaining why he has been pleased with Rudolph’s play, Tomlin listed Rudolph’s confidence, aggressiveness and “calculated risk-taking.”

“I say all those things (about Rudolph) with the understanding that I know Kenny is very capable,” Tomlin said.

“We feel like we have two capable guys.”