The illegal formation penalty on Mason Rudolph’s late scramble helped shape the course of the Steelers’ loss to the Bears. On Wednesday, Rudolph took ownership of that situation as the quarterback of the offense who called for the snap. Asked to assess his performance, he spent a lot of time talking about things like miscommunications, referencing that one specifically.
“I think with a couple of the turnovers, and then I thought we made a couple mistakes through the day, but really still had a chance to win in the end and that’s all you can ask for”, Rudolph said of his play, via the Steelers’ website. “I think we’ve got to have better communication. We had kind of a miscommunication on the scramble that would have set us up, but it’s my job as a quarterback to keep that straight”.
On a crucial 3rd-and-4 play with just over two minutes to play, Mason Rudolph scrambled to midfield for 22 yards. Unfortunately, long before that took place, officials tossed their flags. The Steelers were in an illegal formation, resulting in a five-yard penalty—the scramble never happened.
The Steelers initially lined up in a 4×1 set. Before the snap, Rudolph motioned for Kenneth Gainwell to move from the left to the right side. However, he and Calvin Austin III both lined up off-formation, leaving RT Troy Fautanu uncovered. With the play clock ticking, Rudolph snapped the ball. Anybody could have called a timeout—they had all three remaining at the time. Aaron Rodgers knew, but it was too late.
Asked about the incident, which eventually forced the Steelers to punt deep in their own end, HC Mike Tomlin merely said that they “own that as a collective”. He acknowledges that they were in an illegal formation, but didn’t put the onus on Mason Rudolph.
Nobody else did, either, though former Steelers QB Charlie Batch said that he needs to own it. As one would expect, Rudolph did take the blame. He ultimately controls when the center snaps the ball, and he called for the snap in an illegal formation. Whether he recognized they were still in an illegal formation or not when he snapped it, he didn’t say.
Had they fixed the illegal formation before the snap, the Steelers would have been at midfield with two minutes to play and three timeouts, down by a field goal. That is practically field goal range as it is. Instead, Mason Rudolph and the offense got the ball back with 1:27 to play and at their own 20. While they made it to the Bears’ 47-yard line, they ultimately turned it over on downs. Tomlin, for what it’s worth, said he never thought about giving Chris Boswell a shot at a 64-yard field goal.
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