Steelers News: Fans await the Mason Rudolph to James Washington connection to heat up

The Pittsburgh Steelers are moving into Week 5 of the NFL regular season, and as the team prepares for the Baltimore Ravens, we continue to provide you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over until the next game starts!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at how the connection between Mason Rudolph and James Washington has been ice cold since Rudolph took over at quarterback. But will things start to heat up sooner than later?

Let’s get to the news:

• Remember when it was really fun to talk about Mason Rudolph throwing deep passes to James Washington? Rekindling that connection from Oklahoma State? It could still happen...

Steelers QB Mason Rudolph says connection with JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Washington ‘just a matter of time’

By: Joe Rutter, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

After leading the Pittsburgh Steelers to his first win as an NFL quarterback on Monday night, quarterback Mason Rudolph apologized for not throwing the ball enough to wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Smith-Schuster finished with three catches for 15 yards in the 27-3 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals. It was the fewest receiving yards the third-year receiver had in game since he was held without a catch in his NFL debut in September 2017.

No similar public regrets were shared about Rudolph’s former college teammate James Washington, who was targeted once and didn’t have a catch against Cincinnati, conjuring memories of his rookie season when he had zero catches in six games.

For a duo that set numerous offensive records at Oklahoma State, Rudolph and Washington not connecting for a single completion was unexpected.

“It’s just kind of happened that way,” Rudolph said Thursday. “Different people step up. … It’s just a matter of time before you get the right look, and you get connected.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• You might be ready to write off the 2019 Steelers, but they aren’t dead yet...

Tim Benz: In awful AFC, Steelers not dead yet

By: Tim Benz, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

An interesting dynamic is brewing in the AFC.

It’s good news for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The dynamic is that, right now, most of the conference is awful.

Not just the crummy AFC North. The whole conference has been lousy so far.

It’s so bad, even at 1-3, the struggling Steelers haven’t played their way out of contention, for either a divisional crown or a wild-card slot.

In fact, a Steelers win over the Baltimore Ravens Sunday at Heinz Field — coupled with a Cleveland Browns loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night — would plop the Steelers atop the AFC North standings.

“If we want to still be in this thing, we have to control the division games,” cornerback Joe Haden said Wednesday. “This next one is a big one.”

No. It’s huge.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• The NFL has admitted they blew a pass interference call on Monday night vs. the Bengals, but it wasn’t the offensive pass interference call against Johnny Holton which wasn’t overturned.

Zac Taylor: NFL admits missed OPI call on Steelers’ first touchdown on Monday night

By: Mike Florio, ProFootballTalk

The first touchdown scored by the Steelers on Monday night shouldn’t have been a touchdown at all.

Via USA Today, Bengals coach Zac Taylor said the league office has acknowledged that the on-field officials and the replay-review process missed offensive pass interference committed by Pittsburgh on the play that resulted in a touchdown pass from quarterback Mason Rudolph to running back James Conner.

Replays showed that an ineligible receiver was downfield — and that he engaged with a defender. The first part isn’t subject to replay review; the second part is. But neither the in-stadium replay official nor the league office engaged the replay function.

The evidence was clear and obvious. Right tackle Matt Feller released very early, and he blocked linebacker Preston Brown.

“If they are down the field before the ball is thrown, then there’s an ineligible receiver downfield,” Taylor said. “On a touchdown, you can’t challenge whether it was OPI down the field. So if they engage with a second-level defender, which they did . . . and they said that they missed it. That part is hard, because we can’t challenge that because it was a scoring play. I made that mistake in the preseason. So that part was frustrating.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Mason Rudolph Media Scrum

• Social Media Madness