Let's get to it:
WILLIAM DOWDELL FROM COCOA BEACH, FL: Your four words in your column on the Seattle game said it all: "Because. Of. Their. Offense." What is your sense of how Mason Rudolph is now viewed by the coaching staff? Was Mason judged against Ben Roethlisberger, and we didn't realize he was pretty good, but just not as good as Ben? I have to wonder.
ANSWER: The photo leading into this installment of Asked and Answered I believe says it all. The photo of team captain Cam Heyward presenting Mason Rudolph with a game ball following the win over the Bengals and the looks on their faces tell a story of mutual respect and appreciation. I'm not an evaluator of football talent, so I really don't have an answer to the apparent disconnect between a past perception of Rudolph and how he's being viewed now. But there are many examples of quarterbacks who just need time to develop and reach their potential, or to resurrect a career that many thought was over. Two current examples are Geno Smith and Joe Flacco. Smith was a second-round pick by the Jets in the 2013 NFL Draft, and he didn't emerge as a quality NFL starter until 2022 at the age of 32. Flacco was a Super Bowl MVP during his time with the Ravens, but when his time there ended and he moved onto stints with the Jets and Denver, he had a 3-14 record as a starter between the ages of 34-37 and was not anything close to what he had been. It seemed he was finished, but after being out of the league for 20 months he's back with the Browns and leading that team into the playoffs with the kind of performances that franchise hasn't had from a quarterback since Otto Graham. My personal opinion is that sometimes it's best not to try to explain or understand things that happen in the NFL but to just enjoy them. I would put Rudolph's 2023 season into that category, and maybe this starts a whole new phase of his career.
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MATHEW McKENNA FROM BROOK PARK, PA: In the fourth quarter of the broadcast of the game vs. Seattle, the announcer made a reference to an "independent observer." I had never heard of this. Can you explain?
ANSWER: At every game, the NFL has a couple of observers – one on the sideline and one in a box above the field – and those individuals keep an eye on the game and look for signs of players exhibiting concussion-like symptoms as part of the player-safety program. Those observers are in communication with each other and with the league office in New York throughout the game. That's why when the game was stopped and referee Shawn Hochuli went to the sideline to speak to an individual wearing an NFL armband, the assumption by the broadcast crew was that somebody saw something possibly indicating a player was showing signs of a possible concussion. Later it was learned that there were reports of a drone flying around in the area, and that was what caused those couple of delays, not knowing whether the drone posed a safety issue to the fans in attendance.
PAT HUTCHISON FROM VERO BEACH, FL: Watching Pat Peterson move from cornerback to safety brought back a memory from the 1990s. I seem to remember Carnell Lake, who was a great and unfortunately seemingly forgotten safety alongside Darren Perry, moved to cornerback for a season because of injury. I remember that he played very well at his new position. Can you shed some light on the situation that season?
ANSWER: That was in 1995. In the regular season opener, Rod Woodson tore an ACL on the first third down situation in the game against Detroit when he was about to tackle Barry Sanders. A few months before, in May, cornerback Deon Figures, a former No. 1 pick and also a starter, had been shot in the knee in a random incident of violence near his home in Compton, California. Without their two starting cornerbacks from the previous season, the Steelers tried a bunch of players there without great success, and during the bye week with the Steelers at 3-4, the decision was made to try starting safety Carnell Lake at cornerback. Lake embraced the challenge, defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau became his tutor, and the stability Lake brought to the secondary propelled the Steelers to an 11-5 record and a win in the 1995 AFC Championship Game, which sent them to Super Bowl XXX vs. the Dallas Cowboys. Lake is hardly forgotten, because he was inducted into the Steelers Hall of Honor as part of the Class of 2021.
STEVEN KOELLIKER FROM INDEPENDENCE, MO: Are injured players like Corey Trice, Kwon Alexander, Cole Holcomb, and others still around the team and in team meetings and on the sideline during games? I would think it would be helpful to them and the team to keep learning the game and in the case of veterans to add their input to meetings and on the sideline during games.
ANSWER: During the regular season, the NFL has very strict rules about the number of people a team is permitted to have in its bench area, and so there is no "room" for injured players to be down there. And it also can be dangerous for players with leg/knee injuries to be down there and potentially unable to get out of the way.
TOM BRUNNER FROM DURHAM, NC: Does the NFL mandate that teams announce their starting quarterback on Friday? For a competitive advantage, why couldn't the Steelers wait until game time to announce their starting quarterback?
ANSWER: In the case of Sunday games, on the Friday beforehand teams must declare the status – out, doubtful, or questionable – of all players who had been listed on their practice report during that week. There is no requirement to list a player as "probable" anymore. Keeping your starting quarterback a secret until game time just isn't realistic in this age of cell phones and social media. Players talk. Agents talk. NFL "insiders" are constantly trolling for nuggets of information. A team is much better off simply preparing its starting quarterback for the challenge of the upcoming game and getting him comfortable and the rest of the team comfortable with him.
ROD KEEFER FROM EDMOND, OK: I've never seen it happen, and maybe it's physically impossible without a strong wind, but if a kickoff lands in the end zone and bounces backward into the field of play, is it a live ball or touchback?
ANSWER: In the NFL, as soon as a kickoff lands on the ground in the end zone, it is a dead ball and a touchback.
GIO CALABRO FROM EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, NJ: I agree with you about Chris Boswell being the franchise's best placekicker, but I recall he replaced Shaun Suisham who also had a good start with the team before injuring his knee making a tackle in the preseason. Is my memory accurate?
ANSWER: In five seasons with the Steelers, Shaun Suisham converted 124-of-141 field goal attempts (87.9 percent) during the regular season and another 9-for-11 in the playoffs. He tore an ACL in the Aug. 9, 2015, Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, vs. the Minnesota Vikings and that ended his career. The first person to attempt to replace Suisham was veteran Josh Scobee, who was cut after missing 4-of-7 attempts from 40-49 yards, and then Chris Boswell replaced Scobee.
