Let's get to it:
JOHN CHANDA FROM JOHNSTOWN, PA: What are Najee Harris' and Jaylen Warren's' rushing totals for this season? Has either one of them gone over 1,000 yards?
ANSWER: Through Week 17 of this regular season, Najee Harris is 12th in the NFL with 923 rushing yards on 235 carries (3.9 average) and 7 touchdowns. He also has 8 runs of 20-plus yards, which is third-most in the NFL in that category behind Detroit's Jahmyr Gibbs (10) and San Francisco's Christian McCaffrey (9). Jaylen Warren is 27th in the NFL with 751 yards on 140 carries (5.4 average) and 4 touchdowns. He has 5 runs of 20-plus yards. With 73 yards rushing on Saturday vs. the Ravens, Harris will reach 1,000 rushing yards in a seasons for the third time in his 3-year career. He finished with 1,200 yards and 7 touchdowns in 2021 as a rookie, and 1,034 yards and 7 touchdowns in 2022. If Harris gets to 1,000, he will become the first drafted running back in Steelers history to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his first three seasons with the team.
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JIM ROWLEY FROM LOS ANGELES, CA: I'm intrigued with Godwin Igwebuike. I like what I see on his kickoff returns and special teams play. He just seems like a good football player. Do the Steelers see any utility in him on offense, given his performance against them in 2021? Is a Steelers No. 3 running back expected to have a role on offense beyond emergency, or is it strictly special teams?
ANSWER: As you may have read in the answer to the above submission, Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren deserve the carries this season. Godwin Igwebuike, 29, has appeared in 78 NFL games and within those games only 105 of the snaps he played were on offense. He has 21 carries for 122 yards rushing (5.8 average) plus 8 catches for 63 yards (7.9 average). As far as this season, I believe it's safe to assume Igwebuike's playing time will be on special teams unless Harris or Warren is unavailable. In that 2021 game you reference – Nov. 14, 2021, vs. the 0-8 Lions – Igwebuike had a 42-yard touchdown run and finished with 54 yard rushing. And one more thing: both Harris and Warren are under contract for 2024.
DALE GELLER CAPE CORAL, FL: If the offense is running the wildcat, and the guy with the ball attempts to pass and is tackled behind the line of scrimmage, is it considered a sack?
ANSWER: Yes. That's how the play should be scored, in my opinion.
SAM MIKHAIL FROM BETHESDA, MD: In a previous Asked and Answered, you indicated Mason Rudolph will become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the 2024 league year. Last year when he was a free agent, no team signed him. Based upon his recent success and familiarity with the team, do you believe the Steelers will make an effort to re-sign him?
ANSWER: The start of the 2024 league year is at 4 p.m. on March 13. In NFL time, that's 100 years away, and there are so many things, significant things, that could happen between now and then to render such speculation meaningless. There are other forums that willingly engage in this kind of guessing game, and if all else fails I saw online that Magic 8-Balls are still available in stores. And finally, what fans sometimes fail to understand is that free agency largely removes team control from the equation and gives it to the player.
JAMES MacPHERSON FROM BEACHWOOD, NJ: Mason Rudolph wins the next game, and we get into the playoffs. Coach Mike Tomlin has previously said if Kenny Pickett is healthy he is our quarterback. By that time he is healthy. Who starts?
ANSWER: If the Steelers continue to win with Mason Rudolph as the starting quarterback, I believe he will remain the starter. In his two starts heading into Saturday's game in Baltimore, Rudolph has completed 35-of-51 (68.6 percent) for 564 yards, with 2 touchdowns, no interceptions, and a rating of 118.4. That's clearly the best quarterback play the Steelers have gotten this season, even though it's just a snippet of the regular season. But if Rudolph leads the Steelers into the playoffs, then that part of the year becomes single elimination, and it would make little sense to me to switch from the guy with the hot hand. And everything you just read is my opinion, not fact.
CHARLIE VAN HORN FROM COLUMBUS, OH: When a running back gains 5 ½-yards, from the 20 yard line to 25 ½-yard line, does he get credit for 5 yards or 6 yards? Also, when the ball is on the ½-yard line and the running back scores a touchdown do they get credit for a 1-yard gain even though it was only ½-yard? Asking for a friend.
ANSWER: Tell your friend that during the official scoring of an NFL game by the on-site stats crew, all yardage is rounded up or down based on the situation. For example, if the offense gains 9 ½-yards on second-and-10, it's officially listed as a 9-yard gain, and it becomes third-and-1. If the offense gains 5 ½-yards on second-and-10, it's officially listed as a 6-yard gain, and it becomes third-and-4. In the two examples you cite in your question, the first would be recorded as a 6-yard gain, and the touchdown would be recorded as a 1-yard touchdown.
KEN WAMSLEY FROM BIDWELL, OH: Since Mason Rudolph became the starter this season, I have not seen an offense feed off a quarterback like that since Ben Roethlisberger and the Killer B's. Do you think a big contract will be offered?
ANSWER: Mason Rudolph is a fifth-year player whose salary for the 2023 season is $1.08 million, which is the veteran minimum for a player with that level of experience. Based on the way he has performed so far, and with the opportunity to increase his value by continuing to play well and help the Steelers get into the playoffs and maybe advance in those playoffs, it is realistic to believe he will be more marketable during the 2024 offseason than he was during the 2023 offseason. The unresolved issue is which team(s) might choose to get involved in the bidding.
LUIZ ALMEIDA FROM SALVADOR, BAHIA, BRAZIL: Is there a league rule regarding the color of gloves players wear? Asking because a lot of people have been talking about how Joey Porter Jr. didn't have a penalty called on him in the Seahawks game.
ANSWER: Each NFL team has a set of official colors, and players are required to wear one of those colors for things such as gloves and sleeves during games. For the Steelers, the main team colors are black, gold, and white. I believe Porter's gloves were black in the game vs. Seattle.
JOHN MARTIN FROM GETTYSBURG, PA: I'm sure you have received a number of comments regarding the officials blowing the game-winning 2-point conversion at the end of the Detroit-Dallas game. While I am interested in your opinion on how the NFL should handle such an apparent mishandling of the situation, does the NFL have any type of formal appeal or protest process for a team after the game is over? And what are the rules for lineman who have already been in the game – do they have to report every down they are eligible?
ANSWER: There is no formal process where a team can protest the outcome of a game once that game is over. And a player must report to the referee as eligible before each time he lines up in an eligible position. If a player is going to line up in an eligible position on first down, second down, and third down, he must report to the referee before each of those plays even if they happen in succession. And as for the handling of that 2-point conversion, I'm not certain all the blame deserves to go to the officiating crew, because the Lions' intent was to deceive the Cowboys as to which player was lining up in an eligible position, and that it not a legal tactic.
NICK MOSES FROM SIMI VALLEY, CA: Should fans infer that the coaching staff's decision to start Mason Rudolph even though Kenny Pickett is healthy means that to some degree the coaches have lost confidence in Pickett? And what does that mean for this team going into next year in your opinion?
ANSWER: In my years of doing Asked and Answered, I have learned I have absolutely no influence on what fans might choose to infer about anything, ever. So, have at it. Infer away. I'm staying out of it, because even if I offered an opinion here, people would choose to accept it or not based on their own personal feelings about the issue. I have found that many submissions asking for my opinion really are seeking only a validation of their own.
