An exciting win: The Steelers jumped out to an early lead against the Cincinnati Bengals and never looked back, defeating them 34-11 at Acrisure Stadium to send the crowd home happy for the holidays.
"Really exciting win," said Coach Mike Tomlin. "Appreciative of the effort and focus of the group. It was a total team effort in all three phases. Made the necessary plays, splash plays, played together and hard.
"Just happy for the guys in the locker room. Going to have a Merry Christmas."
Quarterback Mason Rudolph stepped up in a huge way, completing 17 of 27 passes for 290 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions.
"He was Mason," said Tomlin. "We talked about it early in the week. He has a belief in himself. He's aggressive in his play style. I thought he did a really good job not displaying a lot of rust for a guy that hadn't played a lot."
The offense was aggressive, not holding back and throwing the ball even with a lead.
"We came in with that mentality," said Tomlin. "We talked about scared money not making money all week. That's the mentality as we went into the week.
"We had a certain anticipation of what they might do. When you're comfortable with that, then you play aggressively. Not anything earth shattering. It's intimacy in divisional play. I am sure they know us as well."
Tomlin was asked, that even though it's early, is it too early to say if Rudolph will start next week against Seattle.
His answer was what was expected.
"You're right, it is early to ask," said Tomlin.
Receiver George Pickens was on the receiving end of four of Rudolph's passes, putting up 195 yards and two touchdowns, including an 86-yarder and a 66-yarder.
"He made some splash plays that was needed," said Tomlin. "His pedigree showed, no doubt."
The Steelers got strong performances all around, including from multiple players who are on the practice squad and were elevated for the game. Safety Eric Rowe finished the game with seven tackles and an interception, while linebacker Myles Jack had six tackles and a sack. In addition, veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson stepped in and started at safety.
"It's necessary and appreciated," said Tomlin. "It's been a challenge readying those guys, but kudos to them. It's also a thoughtful acquisition of players, veteran players. The size of the practice squad today, the fact that you can have veteran players on it. We just positioned ourselves for the attrition component of play.
"Can't say enough about contributions from those guys, specifically Pat Peterson and Eric Rowe stepping in at safety under the circumstances that we have at that position.
"Both guys played every down. Did a heck of a job communicating solid throughout the week and provided some slash plays in the form of turnovers."
Controlling the game: Alex Highsmith ended his postgame presser with a Merry Christmas wish to all, and after the Steelers performance against the Bengals, it will be a Merry Christmas.
The team played a complete game, with splash plays all around.
And Highsmith was right in on the action with an interception and a sack.
"It felt great to win by a lot and to just really handle and control the game," said Highsmith. "I think we were up 14-0 the first quarter of the game and I think everyone was saying on the sidelines, we were just preaching we can't let up. We were up 13-0 last week and let them back in the game and we know what the results were.
"We did a good job of just staying on it, so I think setting that tempo from the jump helped us come out with the victory.
"Getting those turnovers was huge, and so just getting back to our culture. That's what that is, getting turnovers and taking the ball away."
It wasn't just the defense that performed.
The offense had one of their best days of the season and quarterback Mason Rudolph led the way.
"Shoutout to Mason. He had a heck of a game and just coming out and doing his thing," said Highsmith. "He's been working and it showed, and so we all rally around him and he came out and did his thing today.
"Super proud of this whole team. Feels good to get back on the win side, but this is only one game. We got to close out the last two, win the last two. So, we just got to build on this."
Highsmith said the team was motivated after losing the last three games and weren't about to let it happen again.
"I just think we were tired of being…three-game losing streak, it hurts, especially knowing you work hard, and you pour everything into this game," said Highsmith. "Just to be able to come back and win and get a statement win against a division team was huge for us. We just got to make that consistent. Just got to build on it next week.
"Like I said, this is only one week. Just got to build on that next week. We've got to go in and analyze the film and see which ways we can be better.
"I know we won the game today, but there are a lot of ways we can be better, myself included. We just got to continue to get better."
Making a splash: Receiver George Pickens had a statement game against the Bengals on Saturday, with four receptions for 195 yards and two touchdowns, including an 86-yarder and a 66-yarder.
The performance came off a week when Pickens heard a lot of outside criticism for his blocking against the Colts last week, and comments he made to the media this week following that.
"I know I made some comments that ticked you guys off," said Pickens before taking questions for the media. "I just want to say I am just here to win. Make the proper adjustments and be a great player."
Pickens did what the Steelers drafted him out of Georgia in the second-round last year to do.
Make splash plays and make like difficult for defensive coordinators.
"I was just playing the best I could," said Pickens. "I know I am true to myself. I know who I am personally. I just came out here to try and play the best I can."
Pickens went over 1,000 yards for the season, 1,009 to be official, for the first time in his young career.
And he was so focused on the team win, he didn't even realize it when he was asked about it.
"I didn't know until you said that," said Pickens. "That shows where my mind is. I am just happy that we won."
A special night: Although it had been a minute, it turns out Mason Rudolph hadn't just been standing around passing the time between starts.
"As hard as it is to sit and watch for two-and-a-half years, you can sorta just go on auto pilot mode or you can try to improve," Rudolph explained tonight at Acrisure Stadium after throwing for 290 yards and two touchdowns in the Steelers' 34-11 thumping of the Bengals. "Say the call, call the play in the huddle, the snap count, simulate what you would do if you were in there.
"When the years go by your football IQ improves. I credit that to our staff and to 'Mike T' (head coach Mike Tomlin). We have great meetings each week in the morning where he kind of gives a synopsis from a defensive perspective.
"I just felt good having the whole week of reps, man. The last time I played I found out 12 hours, 24 hours before. It's nice to build the confidence through the week."
And so Rudolph was admittedly better prepared to face Cincinnati than he had been prior to his most recent previous NFL start, on Nov. 14, 2021 against Detroit.
But that's not to suggest Rudolph didn't have to deal with nerves in advance of dealing with the Bengals' defense.
"I don't think I slept at all, I think it was Monday night before the Tuesday practice," Rudolph acknowledged. "I hadn't taken a full day's reps in a while so you're a little nervous and a little tightly wound.
"But we got off to a good start and I think when you build the confidence through the week and the preparation, Coach Sullivan (quarterbacks coach Mike), the way he took a lot of input from me, sort of things that I like. A lot of the same stuff as (quarterback) Kenny (Pickett) and (quarterback) Mitch (Trubisky) but a few tweaks here and there, (Sullivan) was very open to my input. And I think you just feel confident when you have a good week of practice and you have no regrets about, did I watch enough film? I wanted to have no regrets in that department, that gives you the confidence."
The "good start" Rudolph referenced was an 86-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver George Pickens on the Steelers' second offensive snap. Rudolph took a two-step drop on second-and-4 from the Steelers' 14-yard line, hit Pickens on a slant at the Steelers' 24 and Pickens took it from there.
The two also hooked up for a 66-yard touchdown on a deep sideline pass against single-coverage in the third quarter.
Rudolph completed 17 of his 27 attempts, four to Pickens for 195 yards and two scores on six targets, and wasn't intercepted.
He improved to 6-4-1 as a starter for the Steelers, but not before contemplating whether his 11th NFL start might ultimately be his last.
"Absolutely," Rudolph confirmed. "You never know. You have confidence in yourself as a player but it's kinda thinking, am I gonna jump into the commercial real estate realm next year or am I going to be playing quarterback?
"Absolutely those thoughts come across your head, yeah."
It turned out to be "a special night" for Rudolph, but he stopped short of assessing his performance as worthy of another start on Dec. 31 in Seattle.
"You're asking the wrong person," he said. "You play this game to play, I'd love to play but that's out of my hands.
"I'll find out the marching orders as we go."
Pro Bowl voting is in the final stages: Voting is now open for the 2024 Pro Bowl Games, the second year for the new-look games.
Fans can vote for their favorite Steelers players now through Dec. 25.
Cast your votes today.
Click on the links to go to the Steelers page and vote for players below as well.
During the final two weeks of voting (Dec. 11 – Dec. 25), fans can vote directly on "X" (formerly Twitter) by tweeting the first and last name of the player, tagging the player's official Twitter handle or creating a hashtag including the player's first and last name. All three of these methods must include the hashtag: #ProBowlVote. During the final two days (Dec. 24 – Dec. 25), social votes will count as double.
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