Mason Rudolph's reward for Steelers' win over the Bengals should be another start in Seattle

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mason Rudolph didn't get ahead of himself. Nor should he.

Call it the residue of six years spent mostly as an afterthought for an organization that said once upon a time it regarded him as a first-round pick.

So while the Pittsburgh Steelers longtime backup quarterback soaked in a dominant 34-11 win over Cincinnati on Saturday night in which he served not as a “freeloader” (his term for being a third-stringer on game days) but a difference-maker while throwing for 290 yards and two long touchdowns, he made it a point not to peek into the future next week about what might await in Seattle.

“I love to play,” Rudolph said. “But that’s out of my hands. I’ll find out the marching orders as we go.”

Rudolph, perhaps more than anyone else on the roster, is well aware of how those marching orders and his interests have rarely overlapped.

Kenny Pickett's surgically repaired right ankle is healing. The Steelers (8-7) have treated Pickett like a franchise quarterback since he moved into the starting role a month into the 2022 season. Despite a largely underwhelming season, Pickett remains under contract for at least two more years and his development — to put it generously — remains very much a work in progress in which Pittsburgh is heavily invested.

Coach Mike Tomlin declined to say who will run out with the starters on New Year's Eve, calling it “too early.” While that's probably the right call, not handing the ball back to Rudolph would send a message. And not the right one.

Tomlin talked about the need to score points and move the ball as the main reasons he turned to Rudolph after two mistake-prone and ineffective starts by Mitch Trubisky. By the end of the first quarter, the Steelers had their most productive first quarter (166 yards) in eight years. By halftime, they had their biggest halftime lead (24 points) since 2016.

And by the end, Rudolph was standing at midfield while a crowd that included both of his parents serenaded him with a particularly giddy version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

Rudolph appreciated the gesture, but he's hoping that's where his story with Santa's most famous assistant ends. The reindeer works all of one day a year. The quarterback is hoping for a more extended run. Considering the way one of the longest-tenured players on the roster has handled slight upon slight through the years, he probably deserves it.

Getting benched for Devlin “Duck” Hodges. Receiving a somewhat frosty greeting by Ben Roethlisberger after arriving in the spring of 2018. Taking the blame for a 16-all tie with Detroit in 2021 when he largely wasn't at fault for any of the three Steelers fumbles in overtime, two of them in Detroit territory.

Rudolph has taken all of it — and let's not even get started on the brawl with Cleveland's Myles Garrett in 2019 — in stride as best he could. It hasn't always been easy. The free agent to be wasn't exactly joking when he said late Saturday night that he's not sure whether he'll be in the NFL next year or selling commercial real estate.

That decision will have to wait for the offseason. Rudolph may have earned himself another look, be it in Pittsburgh or elsewhere after the best and most important start of his career.

Beyond that, however, Rudolph proved to many — perhaps himself most of all — that he can still play. He didn't make a speech when defensive tackle Cam Heyward handed him a game ball in the locker room after. He probably didn't have to, not with the way his play did all the talking for him.

WHAT'S WORKING

Letting Rudolph chuck it deep. The search for “splash” in the Steelers offense has been a frustrating and maddening odyssey for most of the past four years. Rudolph managed to do — for one game anyway — what Pickett and Trubisky could not with any frequency (or accuracy): give Pickens a legitimate chance to be a game-breaker.

WHAT NEEDS HELP

Injuries (and in Damontae Kazee's case a season-ending suspension ) have wreaked havoc on the back end of the secondary. While the Steelers did manage to pick off Cincinnati's Jake Browning three times, they also gave up 335 yards passing and looked awfully vulnerable, particularly on throws to the middle of the field.

STOCK UP

Tomlin took a fair amount of heat for his decision not to discipline Pickens — publicly anyway — for the wide receiver's sometimes iffy effort on the field and his occasionally petulant behavior off it. Pickens responded by becoming the first Steelers wide receiver since Antonio Brown in 2013 to have 195 yards receiving and two touchdowns in a game.

STOCK DOWN

Defensive end DeMarvin Leal was expected to become a bigger part of the rotation in his second season. Instead he's found himself a healthy scratch two of the past three weeks and hasn't played more than nine snaps in a game since Nov. 2.

INJURIES

Inside linebacker Elandon Roberts has been invaluable this season, particularly after the Steelers lost Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander to season-ending injuries in November. Roberts may be joining them on injured reserve after sustaining a pectoral injury in the second quarter.

KEY NUMBER

15-3 — Pittsburgh's record under Mike Tomlin the week following a loss of 17 points or more.

NEXT STEPS

Figure out who is going to start and more importantly, how to try and win in Seattle for the first time in 40 years when they visit the Seahawks on New Year's Eve.

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