With 290 passing yards and two touchdowns in the Steelers’ 34-11 win over the Cincinnati Bengals — Pittsburgh’s first victory by more than one score all year — veteran quarterback Mason Rudolph helped improve his club’s playoff hopes on Saturday.
PITTSBURGH — Sitting at the dais in the Steelers’ news conference room inside Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph admitted he had let his mind wander into the what-ifs.
What if Saturday was one of his final opportunities to prove he could make it as an NFL quarterback? After six roller-coaster seasons with only 18 starts — and just two in the past three years — did he truly belong in the league?
With 290 passing yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in the Steelers’ resounding 34-11 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals — Pittsburgh’s first win by more than one score all year — Rudolph proved to himself and a stadium of more than 66,000 fans that he can play winning football in the NFL.
“You got confidence in yourself as a player,” Rudolph said, “but you’re kind of thinking, ‘Am I going to jump into the commercial real estate realm next year or am I going to be playing quarterback?'”
Rudolph, who’s been inactive for all but three games this season, made the most of his first start since Week 10 of the 2021 season from the jump. On the Steelers’ second play of the game, Rudolph connected with wide receiver George Pickens on a short throw, and Pickens took it 86 yards to the house for the Steelers’ longest touchdown since Ben Roethlisberger hit JuJu Smith-Schuster for a 97-yard touchdown in Week 12 of the 2018 season.
“A fast start no matter whether you’re in high school, college or pro, it makes a difference, and especially when we’re at this venue at home gets the crowd into it, to get a guy like George going early and his run after catch ability, it’s just second to none,” Rudolph said. “So it was a pretty cool view as I tried to chase him down from behind.”
Aided by the 86-yard touchdown, Rudolph threw for 130 yards in the first quarter, the most by a Steelers quarterback in any quarter since Kenny Pickett threw for 138 yards in the 4th quarter against the Rams in Week 7.
