Film Room: Mason Rudolph vs Cleveland

After his worst performance of his pro or college career, we take a deep dive into the film of Mason Rudolph's game in Cleveland.

On one of the more wild nights in recent league memory, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph will be remembered for everything but his statistics that night, despite throwing four interceptions. 

"I did not do a good enough job to help our team win the game" said Rudolph in a statement to the media nearly a week after the unfortunate helmet incident occurred between him and Browns defensive end Myles Garrett.  

His words ring true, as Rudolph (along with the rest of Pittsburgh's offense) refused to move the ball down the field, remaining stagnant for majority of the game. What resulted afterwards was a string of fans calling for Rudolph's job in favor of back-up quarterback Devlin Hodges. 

Are Steelers fans overreacting to last Thursday's performance? Or are there legitimate concerns surrounding Rudolph and his long-term future as quarterback? 

Luckily, a trip to the good ol' film room will help dissect some of these issues. Not sure where to lean on the Rudolph fence? Grab a snack, take a seat, and let's talk football. 

A film assessment of Mason Rudolph's performance in week eleven against the Cleveland Browns: 

First Quarter

Rudolph is tested by Cleveland early, as two failed run plays positioned the Steelers in a third and long on the first drive of the game. Cleveland shows pressure by stacking the box and playing man coverage with a single high safety. The play breaks down immediately due to James Conner not picking up the blitzing defender, forcing Rudolph to evade the pressure and scramble to his left. 

Had Conner blocked the outside edge rusher, Rudolph finds the open JuJu Smith-Schuster on the crossing route, one that likely would have picked up a first down. 

Instead, Rudolph scrambles left and decides against a potential turnover by not attempting to throw in the middle of the field while near the sideline. Rudolph throws the ball away and the Steelers punt. 

On Pittsburgh's second drive, Rudolph again finds himself in a third and long situation. Rudolph is able to step up in the pocket and deliver a ball deep to the right side of the field in the direction of James Washington. Washington, who needed to run inwards to make a play on the under-thrown ball, draws a pass-interference penalty and the Steelers gain a first down. 

While Pittsburgh benefited from penalty, Rudolph didn't get enough on the throw to thread it to Washington. When Rudolph begins the throw, you can see his left foot open up, rather than stepping up properly. The wide step leads to Rudolph not getting the proper amount of power/accuracy in his throw. 

Rudolph was again put in a third and long following the next set of downs, and was hit during his throw, causing it to be short and thus incomplete. Jordan Berry botches the hold on Chris Boswell's kick and the Steelers walk away with no points. 

After a series of completions for Rudolph, we are met with a third and short scenario. Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner decides to call a play-action, despite the Steelers not effectively running the ball well early on. Smith-Schuster gets separation on his crossing route, but the ball was thrown too low/far for his grasp. 

After watching the play again, left tackle Alejandro Villanueva was beat on the edge due to poor technique. However, Rudolph was able to get the ball out before being touched. Rudolph simply misses Smith-Schuster here with an errant throw, forcing the punt team to come on. 

First Quarter Analysis: Mason Rudolph hasn't looked phenomenal, yet his performance hasn't been poor either. He's made the throws he's needed more times than not, especially on three step drops. A big part of the Steelers' offensive failures have come from little things, such as bad snaps, penalties, missed blocking assignments, etc. That's something out of Rudolph's control.  

Second Quarter

The Steelers find themselves in a third and long scenario (notice a trend?) and Fichtner decides to let Rudolph have another deep shot. The Browns show pressure off Rudolph's left side, and you are able to see pre-snap the adjustments made by Rudolph. The Steelers are unable to contain the pressure (Maurkice Pouncey gets flattened) and Rudolph again is forced to side-step a defender and attempt to get the deep ball off. 

The result? An incomplete pass to Johnny Holton via an underthrown pass. Rudolph has missed a few throws thus far, but only one (the crossing route by JuJu) was solely on him. Rudolph has no time to throw despite making the correct protection call, and the result is another incompletion. 

This is unfortunately the play where Smith-Schuster was hit in the head and had to depart the game. It's another third down and the Browns drop into zone coverage while only rushing four (note: four is plenty for the pass rush they're getting). Rudolph does a nice job of stepping into the pocket and hits Smith-Schuster in stride between two defenders. Smith-Schuster drops the ball (see: contact to defenseless receiver) but Pittsburgh is able to get the first down via a roughing the passer penalty. 

To this point, Rudolph has had the services of JuJu available to him. How does Rudolph and the rest of the offense respond without Smith-Schuster in the lineup? 

Here we have Rudolph's first interception. 

1st and 10 with under four minutes left, the Steelers are down 14-0 and needing points. Fichtner dials up a flea-flicker despite not establishing the run or having adequate protection. Browns safety Damarious Randall (bottom of your screen) easily squeezes past Villanueva and running back Trey Edmunds (who was still turned around from tossing the ball back) to force pressure on Rudolph. Rudolph, seeing Randall is approaching quickly, simply tries to get the ball off as soon as he receives it.

The result? Browns defensive back Denzel Ward makes an amazing play on the ball to tip it up, as Morgan Burnett catches it and starts moving the other way. 

There's not much else that could have gone wrong here. The play-call, protection, throw and defense played was less than ideal for all people in black and gold. The throw wasn't absolutely terrible, as you can't really blame Rudolph for the events that transpired. On the same token however, if Rudolph isn't confident in the throw, have him either try to escape the pressure (like we've seen him do multiple times) or throw it away. 

Second quarter notes: As the game progressed, the Steelers offense regressed. Rudolph is getting little to no assistance from anybody in the offense. His offensive coordinator seems to be calling plays at random, his offensive line can't handle a four man rush, and his running backs are not able to alleviate any pressure on the ground. With Pittsburgh's top rushing and receiving options gone, things loom gloomy as the Steelers head into halftime down 14-0. When given time, Rudolph has completed the necessary passes. Yet the difference between Ben Roethlisberger and Rudolph in this offense is night and day, as expected.  

Third Quarter

Typically you can find a variation of excuses for a turnover, but not necessarily here for Rudolph in this case. It's second and ten, Cleveland again rushes four and drops into zone coverage. Receiver Tevin Jones runs a post/deep in route and simply has the ball thrown behind him. For one of very few plays in the game, Rudolph has a clean pocket but just doesn't put the ball where it needs to go. 

The Steelers get the ball back, and after moving the ball downfield thanks to penalties, Rudolph and company find themselves just three yards away from paydirt. Rudolph eventually finds open halfback Jaylen Samuels to his left for a score, but I want you to watch Rudolph/Washington (middle receiver on the top). Washington gets open on a simple in route, and Rudolph sees it. However, when Washington makes his break, Rudolph steps into the pocket and closer to interior pressure, forcing him to check down to Samuels. 

Granted, the Steelers scored on this play, yet one can only be nervous about Rudolph being too anticipatory and feeling pressure that isn't there (cc: Sam Darnold). Rudolph's pocket presence has been under heavy criticism since he entered the NFL Draft, and this fits that narrative. 

Third Quarter notes: It's more of the same for Rudolph. Not the best protection and players on the field to help him, but the interception was solely on him. The Steelers have only been able to move the ball thanks to yellow flags on the field. However, Rudolph has still made decent throws. Yet it's becoming clear with this offense, Rudolph is limited. 

Fourth Quarter 

After a failed fourth down conversion and another punt, the Steelers find themselves still down by seven backed into their own side of the field. Cleveland, rushing four and playing zone defense, are content with doing so until the Steelers can effectively move the ball against it. 

Rudolph, again with a clean pocket, climbs the pocket when not necessary and forces the ball into the hands of Browns linebacker Joe Schobert, who cut underneath Washington's in route to make the play. Schobert read Rudolph beautifully. 

On the Steelers side of the ball, Rudolph's pocket awareness again comes back to haunt him. Rudolph tried to hit Washington as he was getting out of his break, yet Rudolph didn't see the dropping linebacker who made the easy play. Based on the angle the safety over top of Washington took, it's safe to say a play would have been made by the Browns had the linebacker not have been there. 

Up until this play, Rudolph started to piece together a solid drive. He showcased his ability to move the chains with his legs by taking off through the middle (and making Myles Garrett miss in the open field) and made one of his best throws of the night with pressure in his face, threading a pass to an open Johnny Holton while being clobbered on a 3rd and 15 situation. 

On the very next play, Rudolph again tries to squeeze the football between two zone defenders, and finds his fourth interception of the night. This time, the ball sails over the head of tight end Vance McDonald right to Browns safety Juston Burris. 

The rest of the night consists of Rudolph being sacked twice on the final drive before certain incidents occured. 

Final Thoughts

The Steelers marched into Cleveland on a four game winning streak, and were abruptly stopped by their divisional rivals. The start of this game held every right to believe that the Steelers and Mason Rudolph would figure things out before time ran out, as most of the Steelers' miscues were easily fixable. 

However, the more the game wore on, the less technical and confident Rudolph became. It's a catch-22 scenario when evaluating Rudolph's performance. On film, you see his mistakes. You see Rudolph's errant throws and poor footwork in the pocket. Yet you also see Rudolph step into pressure and make solid throws throughout the game. 

Rudolph's protection was horrible. Pittsburgh's play-calling was just as bad. Rudolph had minimal weapons around him as the game continued on. Rudolph isn't solely at fault in this loss, although four interceptions aren't great for this argument. 

What should you walk away with? 

Rudolph, in his first year starting, had a terrible game, whether it's his or the next man's fault. Rudolph still possesses the necessary traits to lead an NFL team one day, yet it's clear Rudolph must strive to refine his game, both physically and mentally. The true mark of an NFL quarterback is how he bounces back. Rudolph's biggest test comes not in Cleveland, but this week in Cincinnati.