The Mad BomberOriginally Posted by teegre
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The Mad Bomber
I've had a hard-on for Rudolph ever since I saw this video: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-combin...Steve-Mariucci
His football IQ seems extremely high. Ben was never gonna be mistaken for a Mensa candidate, and he relied on his other-worldly ability to improvise on busted plays with high accuracy for a lot of his success. Mason looks like he'll be much more of a film room warrior who will succeed through hard work and discipline.
With Ben's accuracy starting to get shaky (early season rust, or was he really starting to lose it?), his end may be closer than we all realized. I'm excited to see what this kid can do after getting a full week of first-team reps.
Yeah, he seemed to have a good session with Mooch in that video. The QB2QB 30minute show with Russell Wilson was very good as well. Here is a brief part of it:
David Decastro did call him a 'Mad man' in one of his interviews, that could work lol
Daryle Lamonica says no. Although hardly anyone remembers the 1960's - including the guys who played then -- so maybe yes?
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Andy Benoit at SI.com on the Steelers running a different offense for Rudolph now that the iso routes which were not working with this receiving corps will be dumped
In the first half of Pittsburgh’s 28–26 loss at Seattle, the Steelers’ passing game lacked any hint of timing or rhythm. Their passing games occured mostly out of spread formations, including the empty sets that Roethlisberger loves, which isolated the receivers and compelled them to win one-on-one. The problem is that only one of them can—third-year WR JuJu Smith-Schuster....
When Rudolph took over in the second half, Pittsburgh’s passing game suddenly looked professional....
You wouldn’t think the passing game would get more complex once the veteran QB went down. But even though Roethlisberger can conduct any offense, he presumably has a predilection for simpler routes, as they’re friendly to his unique sandlot tendencies....
[W]ith Pittsburgh’s callow wide receiving corps, it appears the only chance for offensive success is through scheme.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/09/17/mason-rudolph-steelers-starting-quarterback-ben-roethlisberger-injured
Steelers track record of consistently drafting good to great receivers may have led to some overconfidence that the offense would not need to adapt to the current crew's shortcomings, assuming Ben's arm wasn't shot already before the elbow blew out.
^ Not only Juju, James Washington burned his guy a lot of times and Ben just flat out missed him. But yeah no AB really hampers the effectiveness of 5-wide
I've been thinking this for several weeks now. They gotta change something, because without AB it wasn't working.
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I knew the receivers were having trouble getting open.
But by being at the game Sunday and being able to watch what was going on in the secondary, rather than simply what the broadcast shows, it was stunning how nobody was getting open even after Ben was doing his standard scan the field while keeping the play alive routine that worked for years and had plenty of time
Even as good or potentially good as some of the WRs they have on the roster are, they just aren't capable of lining up and creating separation on their own. Combine that with Ben's preference for throwing once a guy breaks open, not before and whoa boy...it looked bad.
The switch to Rudolph may cause a scheme/gameplan change that lifts all boats. Not because Rudolph is better, but because the scheme fits the players more.
Also, prior to Rudolph, 10-15% play action, post-Rudolph 30+% play action. Welcome to 2019 Steelers passing game.
Interesting. In the offseason there was a lot of sentiment on this board that guys like AB, Mike Wallace, Manny Sanders, Santonio Holmes, etc were made good receivers by Ben. Now there seems to be some belief that an allegedly talented WR like AB makes the QB look good.
I guess we will see going forward if this group of WR is just terrible and cant even be improved by a future HOF QB, then what should we really expect from a 2nd year guy with no experience?
Honestly I thought this year they were going to move to a more balanced attack with Conner / Samuels and getting McDonald more involved. Disappointed that this hasn't happened yet. Fitch is quick to abandon the run
I think both can be correct if you make the scenario a bit more nuanced. A HOF QB can make guys better. But a passing attack can also be hampered by asking WRs to do things they are not capable of doing (yet?) at an NFL level. Going 5 wide kinda turns every WR into an "X" and they don't get motion, alignment, or other assistance in beating their guy off the LOS and gaining separation by the top of their route. AB was/is the best in the business at doing exactly that. So he clearly helped with that. Then it cascades on down. Juju beats up on slot DBs. Bryant/Deep Threat gets singled up across the formation from AB with no safety help over the top. Etc. Etc. Etc. The HOF QB picks apart the mismatches and coverage gaps with well placed and timely throws, making all the WRs even better. Remove the guy who can "always be open" despite 1-3 defenders being sent to his side of the field, and now it is simply far harder for everyone else.
I know that you know this stuff. And I think we can assume most others do as well. The NFL is hard and there are no single variable answers.
Yeah, the Steelers actually had a higher YPC than the Seahawks last week, but only rushed it half as much. I really don't know what to think of an inexperienced OC like Fichtner with a 2nd year QB that he has to gameplan for.
There’s that SCHEME word again...
It’s what I’ve been saying the routes are too simple. Glad to see they are going to scheme guys open...coaches gonna coach. Earn a paycheck!
I think the difficulty and the trick to all this will be that you have QB A who wants to play in offensive style 1 and QB B who wants/needs to play in offensive style 2.
"Scheming" for that is challenging. Having your WRs all get on the same page for that is also a big challenge. Should be an interesting ride.
Recently there have been two ways to play high level QB in the NFL. The one school is the Favrian "Gunslinger" School - get open and I will get the ball to you. This is currently best exemplified by Rogers and Roethlisberger and Wentz. They excelled at making big throws into small windows to really talented WRs. This is what everyone means when they talk about this type of QB needing to have "confidence" in his guys. It is the faith that they can shake a DB in the 2-3 seconds the QB wants to get the ball out in. The other is a the Montana "Be Precise" School - you better darn well run your route right and get your head around because when I hit my back foot the ball is coming out. Best examples right now are Brady and Goff. This may be the type of offense that Rudolph needs to play in. Don't need a cannon for an arm, because it is about timing and placement rather than throwing the ball through a brick wall.
I don't really know. This is just the caffeine fueled ramblings of one guy...
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The 30% play action in the second half (double the usual Steelers play action %) may indicate Fichtner has some thoughts on how he would like to game plan that were only regarded as suggestions by the QB who got him hired as OC.
I was thinking exactly the same thing.The 30% play action in the second half (double the usual Steelers play action %) may indicate Fichtner has some thoughts on how he would like to game plan that were only regarded as suggestions by the QB who got him hired as OC.
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I think you’re 100% correct and I think we will hopefully see a little different offense with Rudolph in there. One that gets him the ball and get it out of his hand with receivers running routes to get open.
I think he's gonna take some teams by surprise and actually make the offense less predictable. He supposedly knows the whole playbook and is a film junkie. A player said he's in the film room "A lot more than some starters", which I don't know if it was a backhanded shot at Ben, but in any case I like how this guy takes the game and preparation very seriously.
Washington also said that Rudolph had basically no hobbies in college other than football, and would call him randomly to drill him on some cues and plays. Sounds like the kind of guy who will succeed in the NFL.
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He's got arm talent, brains and poise. Hmmmm.... for me he passes the eye test. I'm no professional scout, but I'm usually dead on with QBs. Last year when everybody was singing Trubisky's praises, I knew he was a bum from watching him one game. I'll know a lot more about Rudolph after Sunday when he's prepared to start and the 49s have prepared to stop him. But so far I like what I see. I have my Rudolph jersey in the cart, I'm just waiting till after Sunday before I click checkout.
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I think he has a bright future as the Steeler #1QB.
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Moncrief on Mason he said Mason has a different mindset
Starts @1:34 if you don't what to hear why he can't catch
https://www.steelers.com/video/moncr...cent-struggles
Not to rain on anything, but Mason Rudolph has a very average arm. His throws tend to float, which resulted in Conner getting smashed twice Sunday. The Steelers have to make some adjustments to pass routes to prevent that from happening. We will not be seeing 400-500 yard passing efforts and endless deep shots out of Rudolph. This is what I mentioned earlier about Mason being "unsexy".
When you look at him, he looks like a very average Quarterback. Nothing stands out about him. No highlight reels. No crazy measurables to speak of. Meh Combine Numbers. He's not a freak athlete. He doesn't have a cannon arm. He's not even that big despite being 6'5. He's just a tall QB. Mason makes up for this shortcomings by just working harder than everyone else. That's how he beat the "highlight reel" Joshua Dobbs. What I said earlier about Mason isn't totally true. There is something that stands out about him. He is very accurate. Scarily accurate.
Don't be surprised that down the road you will hear derisions that Mason is a "System QB" who "dinks and dunks" all the time, because that what most likely what he is. A clone of Tom Brady.
https://thedraftnetwork.com/articles...2018-nfl-draft
Interesting read.
Joe Montana and Peyton Manning never had rocket arms either but they had crazy accuracy (and Peyton was an obsessed student of the game). I'll take accuracy over a cannon any day.
Case in point as you mentioned, Dobbs. Crazy athletic talent that will do stuff to get you jumping out of your seat at times, but if you can't complete a 5-10 yard pass consistently you won't last very long in this league.
Mike Vick had a strong arm. He sucked. Newton has a strong arm, Flacco has a strong arm, Jay Cutler had a strong arm...arm strength isn’t always necessarily the be all end all...
Fichtner called a better game once Rudolph went in. “Necessity is the mother of invention.” They needed to taper the gameplan to Rudolph’s strengths and/or incorporate plays where Rudolph would be successful. He dinked. He dunked. He scored two TDs (and led them to a FG). I’ll take it.
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So will I.
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