We might have seen the next step in the maturation process of Mason Rudolph last Monday night against the Dolphins.
No, not the recovery from a horrid first quarter, though that was a good step for the second-year quarterback to take.
In this case, we finally saw Rudolph make some throws to JuJu Smith-Schuster when the star receiver was "covered," trusting his guy to win in those situations.
Forget the rust factor for Rudolph, who was coming off of not having played in a game for three weeks after suffering a concussion and missing a game against the Chargers prior to the team's bye week. This was the trust factor for which the Steelers had been waiting.
The results were five receptions for a season-high 103 yards and this touchdown, on which Smith-Schuster was covered -- but not really.
Smith-Schuster and the Steelers (3-4) would like to see Rudolph trust his star receiver like that more often moving forward, perhaps starting with their game Sunday against the Colts (5-2).
Smith-Schuster, who had 111 catches for 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns last season, has drawn a lot of double coverage this season without Antonio Brown around. So when opponents do try to single him in coverage, Rudolph needs to trust him.
"The majority of time when I’m one-on-one or in man, it might not seem like I’m open, but I’m open," Smith-Schuster said. "Just give me an opportunity and put the ball around me. I’ll be able to make a play."
That's been a learning process for Rudolph, who was making just his fourth career start in the game against the Dolphins.
He's seen Smith-Schuster make those kind of catches on a regular basis from Ben Roethlisberger last season. He's seen it in practice. But he hadn't exactly let it rip to Smith-Schuster in games when he saw those situations -- until last week.
When you're the quarterback and you've been entrusted with the offense and been coached up not to turn the ball over, the idea of pulling the trigger on a throw to a guy who is covered takes a great deal of trust—even if you've seen him succeed more often than not in those situations.
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