Steelers Need to Open up the Playbook and Let Mason Rudolph Take More Shots Down Field

The Pittsburgh Steelers pummeled the Cincinnati Bengals 27-3 on Monday Night Football, but the victory wasn't necessarily the product of Mason Rudolph's impressive performance, which his stat line absolutely suggests.

Rudolph completed over 85% of his throws (24-of-28) for 229 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions. Now, if there's an angle to come at in order to criticize those numbers, it's the old reliable eye test.

The fact of the matter is that head coach Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner didn't ask the sophomore gunslinger to do much of anything down field. Only three of his pass 28 attempts travel 10 or more yards.

Mason Rudolph vs #Bengals: 24/28, 229 YDS, 2 TD

By Distance
BEHIND LOS --- 12/13, 73 YDS
0-9 YARDS --- 10/11, 96 YDS, 1 TD
10-19 YARDS --- 1/1, 17 YDS
20+ YARDS --- 1/2, 43 YDS, 1 TD#HereWeGo
— #BusinessAintBoomin (@ftbeard_17) October 1, 2019

Folks, that's simply not a recipe for winning football. We know that Tomlin and Co. are trying to ease Rudolph into things, but why not game plan to let him loose against one of the NFL's worst secondaries? Coming into Monday night, the Bengals were among the bottom 10 in the league in terms of passing yards allowed per game.

Are we saying that the Oklahoma State product shouldn't be feeling confident after Monday night's performance? Absolutely not, but there's certainly something to say about the fact that 16 of his 24 completions were to tailbacks James Conner and Jaylen Samuels.

Out of Mason Rudolph’s 28 attempts on MNF, 3 were more than 10 yards down the field while 12 were from behind the line of scrimmage. For the season, 26 of his 74 attempts were thrown behind the line of scrimmage and 16 traveled more than 10 yards.
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) October 1, 2019

Dumping off to RBs should be the case against the league's best defenses -- New England, Buffalo, and Chicago, to name a few -- not the lowly Bengals.

The Ravens are up next for Pittsburgh and it would seriously behoove the Steelers to open up the playbook for Rudolph. Then, and only then, will the franchise come to terms with his potential.