Little should surprise me at this point when it comes to how angsty online dialogue about the Steelers can be.
But some of what I’ve seen about the backup quarterback “debate” between Dwayne Haskins and Mason Rudolph is blowing my mind.
The funny thing is, both guys have actually been pretty decent. Yet the tone of conversation constantly seems to be that one side says, “Rudolph will never get any better,” while the other insists, “Haskins washed out in Washington, so he’ll do the same thing in Pittsburgh.”
Yikes. How ugly would it get if both guys had been flat-out bad so far?
So I wrote this week that if people are assuming Haskins will magically turn things around now that he has become a Steeler, they should hold out a touch of optimism that Rudolph may improve, too.
Bad idea. Man, did that bring out the knives and pitchforks.
In this week’s “U mad, bro?”, I’ll give you a little taste. We get some cranky Pirates emails into the mix as well. And we talk draft.
What kind of draft? Well, I’m not exactly certain.
Let’s start with an email from Jerome.
“They had a great draft.”
Um, here’s the problem. Jerome only sent that one line in the subject heading.
That’s it. I have no idea if he is talking about the Steelers or the Pirates.
I assume he’s not talking about the Penguins, seeing as how they only had one pick in the first 153 selections. Unless Jerome is a massive Tristan Broz fan, I’m going to use my powers of deductive reasoning to rule them out.
So, Jerome, here’s how I will respond to your email.
If you mean the Steelers had a great draft, I’ll say that based on the preseason so far, it looks like you are right. We’ll find out in a few months.
If you mean the Pirates had a great draft, based on what management, fans, bloggers, scouting services and baseball media say, it looks like you would be right on that front as well.
We’ll find out in four or five years.
I look forward to your response in either November or, roughly, 2025.
