Mike Tomlin handed the keys of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense to third-string quarterback Mason Rudolph on Dec. 23 and hasn’t looked back. It’s worked out well, but what if it suddenly doesn’t?
What if things go south for Pittsburgh in their first playoff appearance in two years? Could Tomlin look to first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett?
“Absolutely not,” Mark Kaboly, Steelers insider for The Athletic, wrote in his recent mailbag. “Tomlin doesn’t approach his quarterbacks like that, regardless of this being a sudden-death game. It’s Rudolph’s game from start to finish. Plus, do you want Pickett, who hasn’t played in more than two months, to come in cold off the bench? I wouldn’t.”
Kaboly was wrong about when Pickett last played — his last game was Dec. 3 versus the Arizona Cardinals — but he’s not wrong about Tomlin’s approach.
“We value routine things happening routinely” and “We’re not reactionary” are two statements Tomlin recycles on a regular basis.
There’s no scenario where Pickett sees the field in Buffalo. The routine that the Steelers are knee-deep in with Rudolph won’t cause the team to react should he turn the ball over on Sunday. At this point, the Steelers are Rudolph’s, and nothing will change that.
