With one final drive playing with a bunch of guys who won't be around next month, Mason Rudolph proved he is not going away without a fight — if, indeed, he goes away at all.
It probably wasn't easy for Rudolph to follow Kenny Pickett's act in Saturday night's 16-15 comeback victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars. But he managed to do that and steal some of the spotlight when he led a perfectly executed game-winning drive and threw a 1-yard touchdown to undrafted rookie Tyler Snead with 1:56 remaining.
"I've played my fair share of games," Rudolph said afterward in the locker room. "A lot of these guys haven't. It's your job as a quarterback, always, no matter who you're playing with, to lead them and exude confidence."
Mike Tomlin said he expected nothing less from Rudolph, saying he stood out like a "varsity player in a JV game" and reminding him of the days when he had proven quarterbacks such as Charlie Batch and Byron Leftwich behind Ben Roethlisberger.
All of which points to why Tomlin might be inclined to keep all three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster when the regular season begins, no matter what the pecking order might be. It would appear to be counter-productive to move on from Rudolph. All he has done since the opening day of training camp is be the most consistent quarterback on the field.
And he does that despite spending all of his time with the second- and third-team players. In two games, Rudolph has completed 26 of 36 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns with a 106.25 passer rating.
"It only hardens you, only makes you better, just being adaptable — you mesh with whatever teammates you have," Rudolph said. "I can't control it. I'm just happy to be with the guys and the way we meshed tonight. That was good."
The touchdown pass to Snead, who deftly tip-toed his feet inside the goal line, was the same play on which they scored on the final play of the Seven Shots drill on Thursday at Saint Vincent College. It gave the offense a 4-3 victory against the defense and the better menu at dinner.
"It gave the offense steak and lobster," Rudolph said.
This one, though, gave the Steelers their second preseason victory. And a certain measure of satisfaction for Rudolph.
"It was important for all of us, it was important to score, important to win the game," Rudolph said. "There's a lot of guys out there fighting, trying to win a roster spot."
Rudolph shouldn't be one of them.
The good, bad and ugly
Good: Chase Claypool was targeted just once against the Jaguars, but the coaches had to like what they saw on that one play. Claypool had a 29-yard reception from Mitch Trubisky on the third play of the game in which he did something he has not done enough for a receiver his size — he went up and over cornerback Tre Herndon to make the catch near the sideline. Claypool also had a 20-yard catch from Pickett that was wiped out by a James Daniels holding penalty.
Good: Safety Damontae Kazee was credited with five tackles (three solo), including several in the run game for zero or minimal yards. He also came up and made a tackle on receiver Evan Engram on 4th-and-6, holding him to a 2-yard gain to give the Steelers possession at their own 37. That stop set up Pickett's last-minute touchdown drive at the end of the half.
Bad: Just as it has shown in training camp, the offensive line continues to have problems with protection. Trubisky spent most of his three series running to escape pressure, on one play breaking away from four defenders before throwing an incomplete pass. Three plays later, on the ensuing series, he was sacked by defensive end Arden Key, who beat left tackle Dan Moore Jr. off the edge. "We've got to do a better job in protecting him and having some semblance of a running game if you want a fair evaluation," Tomlin said. "I'm just being bluntly honest."
Ugly: One week after averaging 6.9 yards per rush and gaining 187 yards against the Seattle Seahawks, the Steelers running game disappeared against the Jaguars. They had just 24 yards on 14 carries, with 21 of the yards coming on a 10-yard scramble by Trubisky and an 11-yard jet sweep by receiver Steven Sims.
Vaughns vaulting
Wide receiver Tyler Vaughns is making a big push to win a spot on the roster, though the numbers might be stacked against him.
For the second game in a row, he made nearly all the big plays in the final minutes that allowed the Steelers to produce a comeback win.
One week after catching the winning touchdown from Pickett with three seconds remaining, Vaughns had back-to-back catches of 25 and 21 yards to start the six-play, 52-yard drive that produced the winning touchdown. He also had a 5-yard catch to the Jaguars 1 that set up Snead's touchdown.
In two games, Vaughns has six catches for 88 yards. But he is battling a pair of receivers with NFL experience — Sims and Miles Boykin — for the sixth and final spot.
