MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Steelers will stick with Mason Rudolph at QB in Week 18

The Steelers are riding with the hot hand.

Head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters in his Monday press conference that Mason Rudolph will start Pittsburgh’s Week 18 matchup against Baltimore.

The Steelers have won two straight games since moving to Rudolph as the club’s starter after Mitch Trubisky faltered when Kenny Pickett went down with an ankle injury.

“I think Kenny’s availability is less in question this week. I anticipate him being available to practice. That being said, we’re going to leave the ball in Mason Rudolph’s hands,” Tomlin said, via Chris Adamski of trivlive.com. “He’s done a good job and we’ve done a good job in the most recent two weeks. He’s taken care of the ball, we’ve taken care of the ball. We’ve scored points at a rate in which we hadn’t done to this point this year. And with the urgency of the moment and because of those reasons, we’re going to leave the ball in his hands.”

Rudolph finished Sunday’s 30-23 win 18-of-24 passing for 274 yards. He was 17-of-27 for 290 yards with two touchdowns in the Week 16 victory over Cincinnati.

Before suffering his ankle injury against the Cardinals in Week 13, Pickett had completed 62 percent of his throws for 2,070 yards with six touchdowns and four interceptions. He also had put together three game-winning drives.

“But I say all those things with the understanding that I know Kenny is very capable,” Tomlin added. “And particularly as it pertains to this matchup, Kenny has led us to victory late in the game the last two times we’ve played Baltimore.

“So, we feel like we have two capable guys. We’ll proceed into the week the same way we did last week, but just knowing that his availability is less in question.”

Tomlin also noted that Pickett was cleared to play in Week 17 against Seattle but the head coach chose not to dress him. That seems likely to change this week with Pickett being more available for practice.

The Steelers likely need a win and some help to make it to the playoffs. But Pittsburgh getting to the postseason is not at all out of the question as the team enters the final week of the regular season.

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The Dolphins have some injury concerns heading into Week 18’s AFC East showdown with the Bills, but Tua Tagovailoa is not one of those concerns for Mike McDaniel.

“It’s not a huge blip on my radar right now,” McDaniel said, via Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.

Tagovailoa left Sunday’s 56-19 loss to the Ravens in the fourth quarter with a left shoulder injury. He said after the game that his throwing shoulder was “good, just a little sore.”

 

Jaguars hopeful Trevor Lawrence will return this week

Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence missed the first game of his career Sunday, sitting out with a sprained right AC joint. The Jaguars hope to have him this week in a game they need to win for the AFC South title.

“It [Lawrence’s shoulder] is definitely improving,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said, via Garry Smits of the Florida Times-Union. “I would expect him to potentially get more practice time this week and hopefully he’s in a position to play in this game.”

Pederson said Lawrence is day to day as he continues treatment and rehab on his sprained right shoulder.

Lawrence had started 49 consecutive games since the Jaguars drafted him first overall in 2021 before his injury in Week 16 against the Buccaneers.

C.J. Beathard started in his stead against the Panthers and completed 17 of 24 passes for 178 yards.

 

Rumors swirl that Kenny Pickett refused to back up Mason Rudolph in Week 17
Despite having been medically cleared to play in Week 17, Pickett was

By Kate Magdziuk Jan 1, 2024, 4:15pm EST
The Pittsburgh Steelers and starter Kenny Pickett officially have a massive PR problem on their hands. Just a day after Mason Rudolph started his second game for the Steelers this season in the aftermath of an ankle injury to Pickett, rumors have begun to swirl that Pickett was inactive in Week 17 not because of a lack of reps, but rather because he “refused to be the backup” to Rudolph.The rumor had originally been sparked by a Tweet from Mark Madden on Monday, a radio personality in the Pittsburgh sports scene featured on 105.9 the X.

There have been no formal reports on the rumor from trusted team insiders, but others familiar with the team, including Mark Kaboly of the Athletic, have noted some of their own skepticism about how Pickett’s inactive status played out in Week 17. Just 11 minutes before Madden’s comment, Kaboly himself tweeted, “KP didn’t dress because of his health yesterday but 12 hours later he’s fine and health is not an issue.”

It’s worth noting that Tomlin stated in his Monday press conference that Pickett was, in fact, medically cleared to play in Week 17 despite being inactive, citing a lack of reps as the reason he was inactive. However, Pickett has logged limited practices in each of the Steelers team practices over the past two weeks. Then, of course, there’s the fact that Pickett has started 24 games over the past two seasons; why would his availability hinge on mid-season practice reps? In examining the situation in its entirety, the sum of the facts and the explanations provided for the sequence of events does seem... questionable, or at best, odd, to say the least.

Still, it would be irresponsible to jump to the conclusion that the rumor is true without absolute confirmation. If it were true, it’s a damning look regarding his ability as a leader and his contributions as a “team player”, which would certainly seem reason enough to justify questioning the future of the position even beyond his results on the field.

The Steelers have historically been a team that’s known to keep their “family drama” in-house, so unless a source inside the building decides to speak out on the matter, it seems unlikely that fans will receive confirmation regarding the rumor’s validity at any point. If Pickett didn’t dress in Week 18 against the Ravens, it would seem possible that the rumors were true. Only time will tell.

 

I guess we can see a little more clearly come week 18.

 

This would be the impetus to move on from him in the off season, if it's true. There's some possibilities at short-term QB coming up in the spring.

 

Kenny Pickett rips reports that he refused to be the backup quarterback Sunday

Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett is not happy with reports that he refused to suit up for Sunday’s game against the Seahawks as a backup.

Pickett, who has been demoted to No. 2 quarterback behind Mason Rudolph, says he was inactive on Sunday because he hadn’t been medically cleared to return from ankle surgery. This week he has been cleared to play and says he’s ready to do whatever he has to do as Rudolph’s backup in a crucial game against the Ravens.

“I saw reports out there that I felt like were attacking my character and how I am as a person,” Pickett told reporters in the Steelers’ locker room today. “There was no talk of me being a backup quarterback this week in terms of being a 2. If I was healthy enough to play, if the trainers and coaches felt I looked good enough to play, I was going to start and play. If they believe I was not, which they believed I was not, I was not going to dress and suit up for the game. So whoever reported that, I don’t know where it started, it’s kind of crazy what people will write or put out there to try to prove their point or help their standpoint or their careers or what you guys do. I’m disappointed to see that without any proof or basis of it. So this week I’m now the 2, they feel good four weeks out of the surgery for me to dress and be the 2, so I will be the 2 to be ready to go for Baltimore. If there’s any other questions about that, I feel like I answered it pretty good there, if there’s anything else, any Baltimore questions, we’re on to Baltimore.”

Pickett is surely disappointed that the Steelers are sticking with Rudolph, and that decision raises major questions about Pickett’s future in Pittsburgh. But now that he’s been told he’s Rudolph’s backup, he says he’s ready to accept that and get ready to be one play away.

NBC

 

Its always good to hear from the source.

 

Not like him denying it is a surprise lol. I'm not saying he did or didnt say it but it's not like he will say yeah I said it.

 

Under Mason Rudolph, Pittsburgh is averaging 432.5 yards per game, 275.0 passing yards, and 32 points per game. With Pickett and Mitchell Trubisky starting, the Steelers averaged 287.1 points per tilt, 177.1 passing yards per game and 15.9 points per contest. DAMMMMMMMM

Going to be a fun off-season in the steel city.

 

But Pickett is 7-2 when he starts and finishes he had the offense humming without Canada. He only has 1 TD without Canada because Johnson dropped some and Warren fumbled one away.

That's not me speaking that's the Pickett brigade arguing why he is the best QB on the roster. When you point out that he has led the team to a grand total of 13 TDs in his 12 starts they will tell you TDs are not important winning is. While not entirely wrong that winning is what matters it is a hell of a lot easier to win when you are scoring TDs. If Mason can get them to 3 TDs vs the ravens he will have led them to the same number of TDs in 3 games that Pickett did in 12. Yet Pickett fans will cry how Pickett could do the same even though he hasn't. Was it really Canada or was.it Pickett and Trubisk? The play calling may be different and the prep work might be different but they are still running Canada's playbook for the most part.

 

No he wouldn't have said "yes, I said that".. He just wouldn't have said anything at all.

 

My only thing with Pickett was that he ended last year on an upward trajectory and had a great preseason. I felt he should've started this season.

However, he has flatlined regarding his progress. I'm not really wowed by any of the QBs the Steelers have, but, at this point, I'll take Mason.

 

The thing about his grand finish last year is this he beat a bunch of bad teams (outside of the ravens). The combine record for the last 7 wins was 48-70-1 (.403) Take away the Ravens (the onoy team of the 7 to have a winning record) and they were 38-63-1 winning percentage of .372. Four of the 7 teams he beat ranked 23rd or worse in pass defense. Five of them were 19th or worse in scoring defense.

As for his 4 comebacks
The Ravens lost 7 games last season in 5 of the 7 they lost the game with under 2 minutes to go in the game where they were leading or tied when the 2 minute warning happened.

Raiders tied a record for most losses after leading by 13 or more. They also coughed up a game to baker mayfield who who led two td drives in last 4 minutes of the game.

The colts who coughed also managed to cough up a 33 point lead.

As for preseason iIsaid it then and I'll say it now he faced mostly backups (the bills did have their starters - von miller) and all played vanilla defenses.

 

No one in the media has hit on it yet - probably because they hadn't figured it out - but there's another reason why Atlanta needed a better look at Taylor Heinecke at QB.

Never mind what he can/can't do as the #1. I'm thinking they also wanted to know if he was even worth keeping for the second year of his contract. If next year's QB#1 is The Player To Be Named Later, Ridder is probably the better option as the #2. He has true upside, and he still has two years left on his (cheap) rookie contract. Meanwhile, the team would save $7 million in cap space if they cut Heinecke.

And I think his 10-29, 1 TD, 3 INT performance against the Bears just sealed his fate. That one touchdown was a backfield pass that Tyler Allgeier caught 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage. And that was 75 of Heinecke's 163 passing yards for the game. 88 yards on 28 attempts otherwise. Ugly with a capital Ugh.

 

Tyler Huntley will get the start for the Ravens Saturday

Lamar Jackson’s MVP case will rest in Week 18.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh announced that Jackson will not play against the Steelers on Saturday afternoon. 2022 Pro Bowler Tyler Huntley will make his first start of the season with Josh Johnson and Malik Cunningham expected to be active as well.

Huntley has seen relief duty in four games this season and he made four starts in each of the last two regular seasons. He also started Baltimore’s playoff loss to the Bengals last January.

Johnson will be the No. 2 quarterback and Harbaugh said at his press conference that the plan is for Cunningham, who was signed off the Patriots practice squad last month, to play receiver and special teams in addition to any time he might see at quarterback.

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Jeff Driskel will start for Browns in Week 18

The Browns will start their fifth quarterback of the season in Sunday’s season finale against the Bengals.

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said at a Wednesday press conference that Jeff Driskel will get the start at quarterback. P.J. Walker will serve as his backup as the Browns will rest Joe Flacco ahead of the opening round of the playoffs.

Driskel signed off of the Cardinals’ practice squad last week when Dorian Thompson-Robinson was placed on injured reserve. He has made 11 other starts over the course of his NFL career.

Stefanski said that the team won’t be able to rest all of their regulars for the Bengals game, but did not specify other players who are going to get the day off.

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Chiefs will rest Patrick Mahomes in Week 18, Blaine Gabbert to start

With the Chiefs locked in as the AFC’s No. 3 seed, head coach Andy Reid plans on resting some of the team’s key starters in the regular-season finale against the Chargers.

Reid announced in his Wednesday press conference that quarterback Patrick Mahomes won’t play with Blaine Gabbert taking over as this week’s QB1.

“And then we’ll rotate the other guys in as we go,” Reid said.

That means Mahomes will finish the 2023 season having completed 67.2 percent of his throws for 4,183 yards with 27 touchdowns and a career-high 14 interceptions. That works out to a 92.6 passer rating.

Reid has rested players like this before, notably doing so back in 2017 when Mahomes made his first start as a rookie in the regular-season finale against Denver.

Gabbert, 34, has appeared in one game for the Chiefs this year, completing 3-of-5 passes for 31 yards with two interceptions back in September against Chicago.

The Jaguars No. 10 overall pick of the 2011 draft, Gabbert has not made a start since 2018 when he was with Tennessee.

There are also players with milestones or incentives who may or may not play — like tight end Travis Kelce, who is currently 16 yards away from his eighth consecutive 1,000-yard season. Reid said “We’ll see” about Kelce’s playing time when asked about it during the press conference.

Defensive lineman Chris Jones (groin spasm), running back Isiah Pacheco (quad contusion), receiver Rashee Rice (hamstring), and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed (calf) won’t practice on Wednesday. With those four dealing with injuries, it seems likely that they’ll join Mahomes as resting players for Sunday’s contest.

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This begs an interesting question:

Joe Flacco's contract includes incentive clauses witch pay him $75,000 for each regular season win. If he doesn't play (and the Browns win), does he still get the $75K?

 

Great question... I dont know, but they ought to pay him regardless.