Pittsburgh Steelers: Studs and duds in letdown loss to 49ers
By Samuel Teets
Stud: Stephon Tuitt
On a team that featured Heyward and T.J. Watt, I expected Stephon Tuitt to continue his role as an auxiliary pass rusher. That hasn’t been the case through the first three weeks of the season. Tuitt had Pittsburgh’s only sack on Sunday and he also recorded seven combined tackles.
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With 3.5 sacks, Tuitt is leading the Steelers in sacks this season and is on pace for a breakout year. Tuitt, who was a second round pick in 2014, had one of his best seasons in 2018. However, his career-high for sacks came back in 2015 when he recorded 6.5. It looks like he will easily break that total this season.
Dud: Mason Rudolph
If you just look at Rudolph’s stats blindly, you might think he had an average game. However, that’s just not true. Rudolph completed 14 of his 27 pass attempts (51.85 percent) for 174 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.
However, 76 of those yards came on a catch and run that JuJu Smith-Schuster deserves the credit for. 39 more of those yards came on a deep strike to Diontae Johnson. If you take away those two throws, then Rudolph would have a measly 59 passing yards.
I know playing the what-if game like this can be controversial, but whenever a quarterback’s performance is carried by two plays, it’s generally not a good thing.