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Mason Rudolph has no advantage in his first start

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Mason Rudolph has no advantage in his first start

About halfway through the Tennessee Titans' loss to the Buffalo Bills, quarterback Mason Rudolph simply ran out of plays he could easily make.

“Even though he's a veteran, there were definitely some examples, especially on third down,” Titans offensive coordinator Nick Holz said Thursday. “Those first few third downs, those are exactly the reps that Mason did in practice and carried over to the game.”

“As the game went on, you saw that with 60 or 70 plays on the call sheet, he didn't have as many plays on some of them. Some of them were game plan looks against Buffalo, and he didn't have that.” “I got them all full speed because you can't get them all. As the game went on in the third and fourth quarters, you definitely saw he didn’t get those reps.”

That shouldn't be a problem this week. The Titans are treating Rudolph as if he were the starter for Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions. Will Levis is on the practice field, but instead of getting a lot of reps like he did before last week's game, he's barely throwing the football.

Instead, Rudolph gets his chances to play in the first team and he does his best to take advantage of those chances.

“It’s just nice to get back into the flow,” Rudolph said. “I’ve had to take part in games before. It's a good adrenaline rush. But it’s ideal to get the reps in during the week.”

Quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree says the things that stood out about Rudolph when the Titans signed him in March were the same things that stood out after his first start. He is experienced. He is an experienced leader. He has good timing. Now he only deals with bank representatives to make it more convenient for himself.

According to Rudolph, one of the jobs of a backup quarterback is to imagine himself playing in a game at all times. However, the alternative is better. Film study and meeting work are nice. Practice representatives are more valuable.

The Titans signed Rudolph to a one-year contract back in March. This hasn't been a pleasant week for the Titans on one-year deals, as pending free agents DeAndre Hopkins and Ernest Jones IV were both traded on Wednesday. Even in a week in which he's expected to start at the most important position on the field, Rudolph admits that in moments like these, thoughts turn to questions of job security.

But Rudolph is handling this situation the same way he is handling his practice representatives this week.

“I always said, let tomorrow take care of itself. There is enough stress to enjoy today. Trust that everything will fall into place,” Rudolph said. “Or it won’t be like that. You can only focus on today.”

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at [email protected]. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

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