Rudolph unleashed Pickens experience
Mike Tomlin told the truth when asked earlier in the week why he wasn’t benching embattled receiver George Pickens, who’d quit on a couple of plays against the Colts, then inflamed the issue by saying he was trying to avoid injury when he didn’t block near the goal line.
“Man,he’s got talents,” Tomlinsaid. “We want to utilize him.”
Well,if you’re going to play Pickens— some would say enableand embolden him — youmight as well do what the Steelershave so often failed todo since the man arrived oncampus 17 months ago: THROWHIM THE *&%$#@ BALL!
Whowould have thought itwould be Mason Rudolph, morethan any other Steelers quarterback,who would unleashthe full Pickens experience?
Itwas something to behold.You simply don’t find thatkind of speed and talent inthat kind of body too often. The6-foot-3, 201-pound Pickensflashed all of his myriad skills, showing the football worldwhy a coach might be inclinedto cut him a break.
First, Pickens took a perfectlytimed slant and ran awayfrom the pack for an 86yardtouchdown. Later, he madea ridiculous 44-yard, sit-downcatch on the sidelines, leading to a field goal, andin the third quarter sprintedfor a 66-yard touchdownto make it 31-8.
AsRudolph told NBC afterward,“That guy’s got a different gear.”
Pickensowned the game, iswhat he did. He responded likea champion, giving the Steelerstheir most breathtakingpass-catching display sinceAntonio Brown left townfive years ago. He had 129 yards in the first half, mostby a Steelers receiver sinceBrown had 150 in 2016, andfinished with 195 and two touchdownson four catches.
NBCanalyst Todd Blackledgedelivered the line of the dayafter Pickens’ second touchdownwhen he said, “Nobodyin this stadium rightnow gives a blip whetherGeorge Pickens blockson a running play.” Meanwhile... •Tomlin has an easy decisionon his quarterback for Seattle. It’s Rudolph, a thousandtimes out of a thousand. Hehas to play. He put a spark intoa dying season. Tomlin needsto see if that spark can becomea bonfire. It’s really theironly chance. Kenny Pickettcan wait.
Tomlinand his offensive coachesdeserve all kinds of creditfor letting Rudolph openit up, the way he did at OklahomaState all those yearsago. That’s why they gavehim a first-round grade, right?Might as well take off thehandcuffs and let him play.
Soat the end of the first half,when the prudent move probablywas running the balland killing the clock, Rudolphthrew it all over the place.And on 3rd-and-1 in the thirdquarter, leading comfortably,Rudolph went deep forPickens.
•It’s one game and one gameonly, but I couldn’t help butadmire Rudolph for makingthe most of it. My favorite playwas him ducking his headnear the goal line and smashinginto two Bengals defendersfor a first down, thenholding the ball out in celebration.He looked like a newman. That’s the kind of playteammates want to see fromtheir leader.
• Actually, play-by-play manNoah Eagle might have hadthe best line: “Rudolph savedChristmas.”
•I’m grading the Steelers defenseon a curve right now —and this was an A performance.They are literally pullingplayers off couches to playgames. They’ve been tryingto overcome an offense thatfor the most part has donenothing to help them. Nopoints. All kinds of threeand-outs.And yet they came intothis game 10th in scoring defenseand 13th in takeaways.
•Jaylen Warren delivered oneof the most devastating blocksyou will ever see on CalvinAustin’s second-quartertouchdown run. Warren detonatedlinebacker GermainePratt — knocking him fromthe 5-yard line to the 2. I couldwatch it a thousand timesand not get tired of it. That’swhat blocking near thegoal line can do for you.
•Raise a toast to Matt Canadafor that jet sweep, if you would,and double it as a celebrationof Austin’s return to the offense.
•The NFL will probably fineWarren for the block (I wishI was kidding).
•Raise your hand if you rememberEric Rowe making aninterception against the Steelersin the 2016 AFC championshipgame. I sure didn’t.But I’ll remember the factthat he came off the practice squad, at age 31, to deliversome big plays Sunday. Heintercepted Browning in thefirst half and blew up a third-downrunning play nearthe goal line. Good desperationsigning by GM OmarKhan.
• Bengals quarterback Jake Browning was indescribably bad. His first half was as bad a half as anyone this side of Tommy Maddox has ever played in that stadium. Browning couldn’t even throw the ball away correctly. At least I think that’s what he was trying to do on that first-quarter wobbler that three Steelers could have intercepted. Patrick Peterson did. Browning was awfully mouthy after beating the Vikings last weekend, yelling about how the Vikings never should have cut him. You saw Saturday why they did. He could have had seven interceptions.
•As Blackledge described it,Tomlin and his defensive coachesfooled Browning by playinga ton of zone. A week afterTomlin delivered one of hisworst performances as Steelerscoach, he turned in oneof his best.
•Credit Pressley Harvin III forhandling a horrible snap late in the first half, leading to ChrisBoswell’s 50-yard field goal.Harvin was misidentified on the television broadcastas Christian Kuntz (the longsnapper). He deserves a mentionhere. Great play.
Everybodygot their hands inthe pile on this one.