PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers are moving forward with the expectation Mason Rudolph will start at quarterback in Week 17 against the Seattle Seahawks but aren’t closing the door on a return by Kenny Pickett.
Pickett has missed the last three games after suffering a high ankle sprain. He underwent surgery shortly after and returned to practice last week for the first time. He was limited most of the week before being ruled out for Week 16 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
This week, head coach Mike Tomlin said the team is preparing with the same expectation. When asked if Pickett would start if he’s cleared in time for the game, Tomlin said the group is not working under hypotheticals and instead taking it day by day.
“Really, we’re in the same position with Kenny as we were last week. We’ll give him a few reps and kind of see where that leads us. But just as I said a week ago in this setting, Mason Rudolph was scheduled to be the quarterback for the week, and we’ll see where Kenny is,” Tomlin said. “We have the same mentality as we start this week. Obviously, we have a great deal more comfort because of what we’ve seen in-stadium from Mason Rudolph, and that helps us. But we still really are in the same posture. He’s got the ball to start the week and we’ll see where Kenny is from a mobility perspective and then kind of go from there and plan day
Rudolph threw for 290 yards and two touchdowns during the team’s 34-11 win over Cincinnati. He’s 6-4-1 all-time as a starter for the Steelers.
Make sure you bookmark All Steelers for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!
Steelers Name Mason Rudolph Starting QB
by day based on the things that we see from that perspective.”
