Steelers QB Mason Rudolph (11.14.19)
Steelers QB Mason Rudolph:
On if he had ever seen a game end with an incident like tonight:
“Not in my years. I thought it was cowardly and bush league. There is plenty of tape out there to watch. I haven’t seen it yet.”
On how he feels:
“I’m good to go.”
On where DE Myles Garrett hit him:
“Go watch the replay. I don’t know. I remember getting hit by a lot of people. There is plenty of tape out there to watch. I am not going to speak to what may have happened.”
On what sparked the incident with Garrett:
“I got sacked, we exchanged some words, he kept keeping on and one thing led to another. You can go back and watch the tape if you want and make your own assumptions.”
On whether or not tensions were rising during the game:
“I don’t think so. It was relatively clean. Those things happen. Obviously, I have to play better and give our guys chances to win. Defense was playing great, getting stops and we had a chance to tie the game a couple times. Those things happen. Hopefully, we will get (WR) Juju (Smith-Schuster), (RB) James (Connor), (WR) Diontae (Johnson) back as soon as possible.”
On Head Coach Mike Tomlin’s post game message:
“He said, ‘Hey, own it, chew on it, we have a long season ahead of us still.’ We have plenty of games to get back into this thing. We will get prepared for Cincinnati just like any other week. We will continue to move on, watch the tape and go through the critical analysis.”
On if he thinks Garrett should be suspended:
“I don’t know what the rules are. I know it was bush league and a total coward move on his part. It’s OK, I’ll take it. I’m not going to back down from any bully out there. We will see what happens.”
On what will happen in a couple weeks when the teams face each other again:
“We play the Browns.”
On if tensions will carry over for the game in two weeks:
“No, we are focused on the Cincinnati Bengals. They are our next opponent, and we know we have to win games in the division to give ourselves a chance. We are moving on and look to keep stacking wins. We will take it week by week.”
On losing the team’s top two WRs and its RB to injury:
“I think with the guys we had in there, they stepped up and made plays. We keep them in tune with the game plan a lot. (WR) Tevin (Jones) stepped up. (WR Johnny) Holton stepped up. We had shots and we pushed the ball down the field but didn’t connect sometimes. Obviously turning the ball over four times does not help so that’s on me. We had guys in the right spot. I just have to put the ball there.”
On the difficulty to convert on fourth down:
“Anytime you can’t convert and you are putting the ball back in their hands, those are tough. We still had a chance to come back and keep moving the ball. We moved the ball well I thought, just ended up turning it over in crucial situations. So yes, they were critical, but you have to move past it.”
On where things crossed the line:
“Maybe when he took my helmet off and used it as a weapon. I’ll go back and look it up. I don’t really care, it’s in the past and we are moving on. We have a big game against Cincinnati next week, but there is plenty of film out there to watch it.”
On his decision to keep going at Garrett while helmetless:
“I felt like I had a bone to pick with him after what he did. I wasn’t going to back down. I appreciate the offensive line always having my back and putting it to bed, but I was angry. I’m human.”
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