Steelers 30, Seahawks 23
Q. Mason, when the call came in that call came in time to throw the ball, what were you thinking?
MASON RUDOLPH: I was a little nervous, not going to lie, but I assumed that it would be in some sort of a zero or press one high look and figured George, you know, George would win on the slant, so, yeah, he made big plays all day on third down and so did Diontae. So did a lot of guys on our squad today, but that was a big one, but, yes, a bit nerve-racking but rewarding.
Q. Mason, how encouraging to put back-to-back win performances, offensive performances like that together?
MASON RUDOLPH: That's great. We knew that was our only shot to get into the tournament, so I don't know any information on scenarios or whatnot, but we knew that we got to win. We got to win next week, so, but just proud of -- just thought it was a team -- I mean we just, really a team win, very cliche, but very true. The turnover there, late in the fourth quarter to give us the ball in a short field and the offensive line, I don't know what we rushed for. I don't know if we broke the 200 mark -- we did. Okay. So, that was incredible.
Q. Mike said you were going to come wanting to run the ball and you did, didn't you?
MASON RUDOLPH: Yeah, we knew we wanted to go at 'em in a hostile environment on the road and try to quell some of that and then, you know, play action and throw when you needed to, but it's why that place has such a reputation for being hard to play at on the road, so we rode the wave of the offensive line today and they carried us to the finish line.
Q. Mason, back to that call to Pickens. It shows some confidence in the quarterback, doesn't it?
MASON RUDOLPH: Um, I mean, you know, I think in that look, you know, there's probably a lot of quarterbacks that could've completed that one. No safety helped. George got the separation, but, yeah, I guess I'm appreciative that, you know, I think a lot of coaches and a lot of play callers want to be conservative there and just run it, out but we've got a very aggressive head. Who I think he made that call at the end of the day, so it paid off.
Q. Mason, does any of this surprise you? These last two weeks.
MASON RUDOLPH: I mean, yes and no. I -- you know, I didn't really -- you never know what can happen, and like I said, God orchestrates things in different ways and it's -- but, you know, yeah, I told the people out there I thought probably -- what happened last year? I didn't get a start. There wasn't an opportunity to jump in there and I finished the year riding the old pine, so thankful that I got a break and, um, got an opportunity to lead our team. It's just fun, man, playing football after not doing a whole lot of that for the last few years, so, but, yeah.
Q. Is it personally rewarding to you, the best two offensive performances of the year back-to-back?
MASON RUDOLPH: Um, I haven't looked at -- I haven't looked at the film obviously or statistically, but I don't really care much about -- I just -- we knew we had to get a win in Seattle on the road in a very tough spot with the team who's trying to make the playoffs as well, who's got everything to play for, and, once again, so enjoyable to take all the reps this week in practice and build the confidence and I just don't have enough reps with those guys. We had a good week and felt good going into it.
Q. Was there a particular pass that when you hit it you thought, okay, this is going to be a pretty good game?
MASON RUDOLPH: (Laughter) You try not to -- you get into a groove, yes, I think. When the Diontae fumble and then it became a fumble out of bounds, that was a nice one to get on your side because that could have turned the ball game a different way early in the game on our side of the 50, so, but, yeah, just thankful and happy to have a nice, happy plane ride home.
Q. You see the confidence level maybe not with yourself but the entire offense which is growing quarter-by-quarter. We can get this done. We can put up 500 yards. We can get 30 points.
MASON RUDOLPH: Yeah, I think we felt confident out there today. I know we moved the ball well from the beginning and I think that builds confidence and any time -- the first drive, we didn't get any points, but we moved it well but guys made plans and they set the tone, man, early on, the way they ran the ball and it was just impressive to watch from my vantage point back there and see those guys push off, James, Isaac and Mason Cole and Broderick and Dan, they did a terrific.
Q. First blush after the game, how do you feel you did putting the ball --
MASON RUDOLPH: First -- say that again.
Q. I know the game is just over, probably haven't watched a lot of tape. Did you, for the most part, put the ball where it was supposed to go -- are there not many instances --
MASON RUDOLPH: You know, the play action pass in the red zone that kind of iced the game would have made it a 14-point game, I thought I could have put it on Allen Robinson's back shoulder to make it a true two touchdown game, but --
Q. You just threw that one away?
MASON RUDOLPH: Yeah, I threw that one over his, but, I don't know. I was -- I guess that's because I'm a little conservative at heart and I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Q. You didn't miss too many in the second half.
MASON RUDOLPH: Good?
MODERATOR: Anyone else?
MASON RUDOLPH: Thank you, guys.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports