It would seem that the loss of Munch has significantly weakened the performance of the offensive line. Who knew - apparently Munchak went and studied opposing D-Line's strengths and tendencies and then coached up the guys each week to be prepared for that. It seems now (just two games in, but...) that the line has taken a significant step back, particularly in the run game.
(Tommy Maddox and then Ben's line was really good at run blocking and they got better as the season progressed because everyone knew it was going to be the team's bread and butter.) As far as Cowher being good at halftime and game time adjustments, I remember he was pretty good at defensive adjustment but I don't remember the offense being particularly flexible. In the Stewart years they came up with some weird stuff to take advantage of his athleticism and minimize his need to make decent reads, but I still don't remember a great deal of 'in-game' adjustment offensively.
The fact is, Ben Roethlisberger is literally the best QB the franchise has ever had. And it's not close. Terry won more SBs and he was probably the best or second best "Big Game" QB of all time. But lb for lb, dollar for dollar (I do love you Terry) it isn't close. Ben is far and away the better all around QB.
So, is it realistic to even hope that Rudolph can step in and be something like Roethlisberger? No. It doesn't hurt Ben's legacy to wish and hope, but the reality is Mason is far far more likely to be Case Keenum or maybe even Jake Plummer or Charlie Batch. Sure, I'd LOVE for the Steelers to have a couple H.O.F. QBs on the roster. It happened for the Packers, I suppose it could happen for the Steelers. I don't, however, have a great deal of faith that this will come to fruition.
That's not to say I expect Mason to suck. I don't. I imagine he'll be a perfectly serviceable QB. But all you folks who have been bitching about Ben's interceptions and calling out "Big Dummy"... I expect you're about to see what life was like in the post N.O.D. years. Lots of QBs, not a great deal of significant success. (Consider, the most consistently successful QB on the Steelers roster between Neil O'Donnel and Ben Roethlisberger was Kordell Stewart. There's your reality.