Mason Rudolph, Pittsburgh Steelers. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph suffers a brutal hit from Baltimore Ravens safety Earl Thomas and has to be carted off the field.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were facing their archrival in the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday afternoon in Heinz Field. This was a clash between AFC North foes featuring two young, second-year signal-callers in Lamar Jackson for the Ravens and Mason Rudolph for the Steelers.
In the third quarter, we saw a scary moment occur on the gridiron. Ravens safety Earl Thomas hit Rudolph in the helmet, which caused the Pittsburgh quarterback to fall to the turf. It did not look good, as Rudolph was lying there motionless. It brought Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smit-Schuster to tears in the thought that Rudolph might be paralyzed.
Fortunately for Rudolph and Steelers nation, the concussed Rudolph was able to stand out with the help of the Pittsburgh medical staff and be carted off the field. There is no way that he will be back in this ball game. He took a brutal hit and will almost certainly be in concussion protocol entering Week 6.
This was a game that could have put the Steelers back in contention in the AFC North. They were just coming off their first victory of the season last week on Monday Night Football versus the division rival Cincinnati Bengals. But with the Steelers trailing the Ravens 17-13 at the time of Rudolph’s exit, it doesn’t look great for Pittsburgh the rest of the way.
They had already lost starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the season, as he suffered an elbow injury in Week 2’s loss. The Steelers have had a ton of consistency at quarterback with Roethlisberger, but it has been nothing short of chaotic these last few weeks. It was a scary moment for Rudolph for sure. Glad to see that he was able to move around a bit after the hit.