Mason Rudolph is going to get another start for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 18 versus the Baltimore Ravens on the road, per head coach Mike Tomlin (h/t Ari Meirov).
“Steelers HC Mike Tomlin said he's sticking with Mason Rudolph as his QB for Saturday's game vs. the Ravens.”

By choosing Rudolph to orchestrate the Steelers' offense on the field for another game, Tomlin sends a message that Pittsburgh should go with who's got the hot hand even though Kenny Pickett is already ready to play after missing games due to injury.

Steelers riding the hot hand of Mason Rudolph

Mason Rudolph, Mike Tomlin, Steelers, Bengals, Mitchell Trubisky

Rudolph is coming off a sensational performance in Week 17's 30-23 win over the Seattle Seahawks away from home. Against the Seahawks, Rudolph completed 18 of his 24 throws for 274 passing yards. He did not have a touchdown but did not turn the ball over and was effective in marching Pittsburgh's offense down into quality scoring opportunities.

Before the win in Seattle, the Steelers got a solid performance from Rudolph back in Week 16's 34-11 home win against the Cincinnati Bengals in which he passed for 290 yards and two touchdowns without an interception on 17-for-27 completions.

There will be speculations about whether the Steelers' decision to go with Rudolph over Pickett is a sign that Pittsburgh doesn't trust the latter enough to handle the business in an all-important game, but that's a question the team must not be interested in tackling at the moment. All of the Steelers' focus right now is on preparing for the Ravens game which they need to win if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive.