The Steelers are pushing the development of their young quarterbacks by putting them in situations to take chances and look for big plays. Some teams believe in the philosophy of having young quarterbacks play a safe game by taking low-risk throws to build up confidence, but the Steelers want to see how theirs perform when they're tasked with being aggressive and taking big shots against defenses.
The Steelers selected a quarterback in back-to-back drafts, in Josh Dobbs in 2017 and Mason Rudolph in 2018, for the first time since they drafted Brian St. Pierre in 2003 and Ben Roethlisberger in 2004. In order to see what the two young passers are made of, the team is going to watch their development through the lens of taking risks with big throws instead of playing it safe and hoping not to make the big mistake.
Watching their preseason tapes and seeing how Dobbs has progressed in his second year and how Rudolph's played in his first two games sheds light on what the Steelers are emphasizing in their development:
Finding a balance between pre-snap reads and post-snap decisions is often the most difficult part of developing a quarterback. The long list of factors in reading defenses compounds to perplex even the most elite of passers in the NFL. But the best way for young quarterbacks to learn their way through those factors is through rigorous study and experimentation in live games.
The Steelers are putting both Dobbs and Rudolph through the trial-and-error situations and getting results. One key trait that both Dobbs and Rudolph share in their development is their commitment to their pre-snap reads and how they’re working to not overcommit to that decision.
Take Dobbs’ rookie season when he made his worst decision of his preseason by throwing an interception against the Falcons. Dobbs saw a blitzing linebacker a little late and knew his read should’ve been to hit the running back in the flat, but after failing to escape the sack cleanly, he made a last ditch effort to follow through on that read and tried to pitch the ball to his target:
While many look at the poor decision to even attempt this pass under pressure as the core issue, this reaches to a deeper part of his development. Dobbs was so focused on following through on his initial read that it became his primary concern instead of the offense's situation at hand.
Dobbs had shown the ability to work through progressions at Tennessee, but doing that with NFL defenses is a more difficult challenge. Still, Dobbs is fighting to show he can grow in the league and has shown that progress already in his second year.
Let’s look back at his touchdown pass to Damoun Patterson against the Eagles. Watch where his head is aimed throughout the play, starting by looking to the right side of the field, then to the middle and then to Patterson on his post pattern:
Dobbs read the defense as Cover 3, knowing the middle safety was the player he needed to manipulate to open up more space for Patterson. Though his throw is a little behind Patterson, the read and execution was exactly what you want out of your quarterback there.
Rudolph’s road to progress saw its first major mistake with his first pass of his second preseason game when his interception was returned for a touchdown by Tramon Williams.
His read on the play was to go to Darrius Heyward-Bey on a curl route against a Cover 3 defense. Typically, if the cornerback in front of Heyward-Bey is backed off, he won't jump an underneath route and the quarterback's main read is whether another player sits underneath the curl route. Rudolph's error was staring down Heyward-Bey to the point that Williams could jump the pass:
But what both Rudolph and Dobbs showed against the Packers was the ability to bounce back from the biggest mistake a quarterback can make by making challenging throws into the defense based on their reads.
Dobbs did that with two touchdown passes to James Washington after his interception, and Rudolph also responded with his first touchdown pass when he hit JuJu Smith-Schuster on a slant over the middle.
Watch Rudolph’s reads on the play. He starts the play by observing other receiving options and never fixating on Smith-Schuster so that the Packers’ defenders in their zones can’t jump on him. He waits for Smith-Schuster to split the seam between two of the zones and fires a strike for the score:
Often young quarterbacks will find a single read and stick to it, focusing on executing the throw rather than being comfortable with taking several factors into consideration as the plays open up. It’s an easy habit to fall into, which is why it’s crucial that Randy Fichtner helps them work against the tendency early in their careers.
As of now, Dobbs has been the better quarterback of the two in this year’s two preseason games. But while they both fight similar struggles, Rudolph looks slightly ahead of where Dobbs was at this point last preseason because of how he’s processing defenses.
Keep an eye out for when they have their high and low moments in the next two preseason games and watch the replays for whether they committed too hard to an early read or if they worked through progressions to get to their eventual target.
If Rudolph can show he’s making the right decisions in that process with more consistency, it would make for a successful rookie preseason campaign. Their next shot is against the Titans this Saturday.