STEELERS

It wasn't that Mason Rudolph had made sure to the max he'd be ready.

I mean, my goodness, hasn't that tale been told around here forever?

As Mike Tomlin would word it after the Steelers' 34-12 bounceback beating of the Bengals this afternoon Acrisure Stadium, "He's always delivered when called upon in the past. That's why we value him. His performance was consistent with what he's done in the past for us. Not that we take it for granted. We don't. We appreciate it."

Good stuff. As was Rudolph completing 12 of 16 passes for 127 yards, a touchdown, no picks, no sacks, a 118.5 rating and, seemingly, not a solitary bead of sweat expended.

But again, it wasn't that. Not this time.

Stay with me on this, all right?

It was near the end of the first half that Aaron Rodgers was bowled backward on an incomplete pass and landed on his left wrist to cause a small fracture. Popping back up, he was visibly peeved, although it wasn't clear in the moment what set him off, then strode straight for the locker room. No pause at the blue tent. Just poof.

Once in the room, Rodgers pointed to Rudolph, per the latter's recollection, and spoke the following: "You're going in."

And that suddenly, just as Rudolph was hit with that singular rush to which I'll bet only a veteran NFL backup quarterback can relate, he'd be surrounded at his stall. Arthur Smith found a stool to one side, Tom Arth to the other, and they'd begin pounding away at the iPads to parse the playbook down to portions that get pre-selected for Rudolph's preferences.

"They're working with me to kinda get to the stuff that I like in the game plan," Rudolph would elaborate, "tailoring it to my favorites."

Yep. Standard stuff.

Except, of course, for the part where he'd be supplanting a four-time NFL MVP.

And the part where he'd be taking the field in the middle of an airtight affair, a 10-6 lead against an opponent that'd utterly emasculated the Steelers defensively a month ago.

And the part, hardly to be overlooked, where he'd be facing an AFC North rival in a setting where yet another loss would mean falling out of first place and ... well, yeah.

So, the plan that Smith, Arth and Rudolph would whip up in all 10-plus minutes they'd been afforded, according to a couple of conversations I'd have long after the game, amounted to this:

• Play with tempo
• Chuck it as needed/wanted
• Hang in that pocket

Ha! Not exactly cutting out Rudolph's core strengths there, huh?

Anyway, after a loud ovation upon being introduced to the crowd of 66,132 -- "I heard it," he'd acknowledge. "I love playing here. This is home. Yeah, very special" -- off they went:

Remember all those times I'd complained a week ago from Inglewood, Calif., that Rodgers and the offense weren't working with any pace or patience?

Rudolph's first three plays saw two decent Jaylen Warren runs, a quick toss to Kenny Gainwell, and a moving of the sticks. And then, after Warren twisted up his ankle for a 1-yard loss and Rudolph misfired on a clear miscommunication, that up there's Roman Wilson running the right route -- despite the perils of playing quickly -- for a 17-yard gain.

Promising. Certainly a start.

"Credit to Arthur," Rudolph would say. "Roman was wide-open, but that's a great schemed-up play. They doubled DK deep and ... I can't say enough about his selflessness because he's not a decoy there, but he took out three defenders on that play. Cleared it for Roman."

He did. Thumb back up to count 'em up.

Then watch Metcalf do his own work:

Now, this one won't show up in the statistics, but only because it was negated by the worst offensive pass interference call in NFL history. I couldn't care less. That's a 30-yard spiral placed precisely into the big No. 4 on Metcalf's chest and, given Rudolph's lifelong gunslinging reputation, it felt to me like he'd need that to get going.

I had to ask:

"Yeah," he'd reply, "I think it usually takes a few completions to get into the flow of the game and find a rhythm. But yeah, that one would've been nice to not have overturned."

That drive stalled a dozen yards shy, and a Chris Boswell chip shot made it 13-9.

The next offensive drive dug up gold: 

OK, this might be where I start getting myself into a little trouble, but I really don't care.

That's obviously a neat shed there for Gainwell of Oren Burks, as well as a tidy enough toss from Rudolph. But I'm illustrating it for a very different reason.

My friends, watch nothing up there other than your maligned line. Watch those blockers who almost never set a pocket for Rodgers ... set a pocket for Rudolph. Watch how there are no bonus blockers like a Spencer Anderson assigned to the package. (He's declared eligible and goes out for a pass.) Watch how Darnell Washington does likewise.

Watch how they -- gasp! -- block!

DON'T MAKE ME SAY IT, PEOPLE!

Now, check out Rodgers getting hurt:

That's not on his line. That's not a quarterback under siege as much as it's a quarterback generating his own siege. Isaac Seumalo blocks his guy not once but twice. Broderick Jones switches from one guy to the next. Neither has any idea where his quarterback will dance next.

Meanwhile ...

"The protection was incredible all night," Rudolph would say when asked about converting three separate third downs of 11-plus yards. "I didn't get touched. I didn't get sacked. It was great."

He's not lying. The Bengals scarcely made human contact with him. Whereas, they'd been rag-dolling Rodgers throughout the first half for a sack and 11-yard loss, plus four outright knockdowns AND the two-man shove that'd injure Rodgers.

Hm. Wonder why.

Could it be that, just as in 2023, when Tomlin was finally forced to turn to Rudolph after the massive messes made by Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky -- principally the penchant of both to be unpredictable in the pocket -- all Rudolph did to calm matters was to just hang in there?

That's what's up there on that Gainwell sequence. And it was there the entire time.

"With a new quarterback, you've always got to be mindful of how deep they are in the pocket," Troy Fautanu would say. "Mason did a really good job of making sure he kept things consistent, just like 8 would do. So Mason came in, slotted in, and we just had to make sure we were protecting our rear ends off for him, make him comfortable."

A small tutorial here: Offensive linemen hate comparing their own quarterbacks, and they tend to be smart enough to know when that's what they're being asked. But feel free to read into that quote whatever one might wish.

To me, that sounded a ton like 2023.

That's as far as I'll go. I'm not an idiot. I'm not about to side-by-side Rudolph with a living legend. Nor am I about to forget Rodgers' razor-sharp play in the season's opening month. Nor, as a result, am I ready to make any silly suggestions toward how the Steelers should proceed next.

But I'm plenty comfortable, I can say right now, openly anticipating seeing more of whether or not there just might be a superior fit for whatever reason. And that, for several weeks now, pretty much everything about this offense has petered out, largely because either Rodgers can't stick in the pocket, or his linemen can't locate him to protect him, or both.

First up, naturally, will come more info on Rodgers' health. Fractures come in all degrees and, since he throws with the right hand, the left won't be as important. We'll see.

Next will come ... Chicago.

And if it's Rudolph who breaks the first huddle at Soldier Field next Sunday, then what's most instructive about this game will be that, yet again, the Steelers will know they're in eminently capable hands.

When Tomlin was asked if he'd experienced a bit of a calming effect as a head coach upon seeing Rudolph start the second half here, he replied, twice for emphasis, "There's no doubt. There's no doubt."

Keep it going, then. Insert some doubt.