I find it funny that when Rudolph was playing, the struggles were all on him. Now when Duck struggles, all of a sudden, the OL, the WRs, the playcalling etc. are all factors.
Let’s face it, with the QB situation, the steelers are on a dead end road. Maybe they make the playoffs, but they have no shot at the SB. With Ben at QB, he could lift up the struggling WRs, but Duck and Rudolph need help and these WRs are not yet ready for that.
Washington and Johnson are getting better and better. Mix in a healthy JuJu and maybe this offense does pick up some. Certainly for next year the prospects look bright, particularly if they can find a good second TE.
Duck is very limited physically. He just doesn’t have the arm. We saw that last night. I like Duck’s prospects to be a backup QB but not a long term starter.
Rudolph needs another shot. He should absolutely start vs the remaining games. He was doing better until Cleveland where the wheels fell off. That’s not all his fault though. He was playing without JuJu as is Duck, but Johnson and Washington had not stepped up much earlier in the season. Johnson is being ‘load balanced’ with playing time so he avoids the rookie wall. Washington was underwhelming until the last few weeks. They were still trying to force balls to Holton when MR was playing.
I want to see MR play with JuJu, Johnson, Washington and Conner to see what the can do. I know people have already made up their minds but they shouldn’t just yet. MR was in a real tough situation. And defense do figure guys out after a few weeks of film. Now there’s some film on Duck and Buffalo was all over him.
Despite all that, I blame Fichtner the most. I don’t want to hear it about how the QBs are missing reads. Of course they are. They are both inexperienced. That means Fichtner needs to take on some of the heavy lifting and give the QBs easier reads.
He can start by getting the damn play in there much quicker. How can a QB, even a veteran, make a pre-snap read when they are breaking the huddle under 10 seconds and racing to snap the ball?
Duck said Buffalo blitzed them more than expected. What film did Fichtner watch that he didn’t know Buffalo would send pressure? Every dam week, Fichtner’s original plan is dead wrong and the offense looks like **** until he adjusts.
Maybe they could have had some screen passes or quick slants or rollouts in the playbook if they didn’t waste time on getting Conner up to speed on the dam wildcat.
The fact that Fichtner can’t adjust plays to the limited strengths of his QBs is a red flag. Watch Duck’s college film and he ran a spread with tons off quick throws. Is there any of that when he’s in there? Rudolph’s college film has tons of beautiful downfield throws. how much of that did they do with Rudolph in there?
Look at what Buffalo did last night. They know that Allen is talented but still limited at this point. Do they have him throwing it 40 times? No, they run the ball, play defense and give him a bunch of easy read play actions with a few deep shots mixed in there.
every week, I can pick out what the opponent is trying to do on offense. Maybe it doesn’t work, but you can see that they are trying to establish the run, or trying to get matchups vs Barron, etc. Can you ever tell what the steelers are trying to do each week? Do the steelers even have any so called "bread and butter" plays? No. It’s like plays are called randomly.
This offense needs an identity. It needs a plan. It seems to have neither.
