How the 49ers defense can ruin Mason Rudolph’s debut as the starter

Second year quarterback Mason Rudolph will make his debut as the starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Levis stadium. I detail how the 49ers defense can play spoiler in his first game as a starter.

49ers offensive tackle Justin Skule is not the only player who will be making his first ever start on Sunday. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph will take over the reigns as the starter with Ben Roethlisberger being out for the rest of the season. Rudolph came in as relief last week against the Seattle Seahawks, so he was able to get his feet a little wet.

However, things will be different for him now that he is the starter. He’s going up against a 49ers defense that has not allowed more than 17 points. Not to mention that this will be a road game, so the crowd noise will not be on his side. The odds are already against Rudolph leading up to Sunday’s week three matchup.

It’s definitely going to be tough sledding for him in his debut start, but it will be on the 49ers defense to ensure his debut gets ruined. So how do the 49ers go about game planning for him?

It’s simple. They need to replicate what they have been doing over the past two games, which is let the pass rush do its thing and play coverage. Rudolph obviously hasn’t proven anything to be able to pick apart a defense. I doubt he is suddenly going to go off against the 49ers secondary and make them look pedestrian.

Getting home with four: #49ers pass rush is having success while having the lowest blitz percentage in NFL (10%) through two weeks.

— Jeff Deeney (@PFF_Jeff) September 16, 2019

So long as the 49ers can takeaway JuJu Smith-Schuster, then Rudolph should struggle when it comes to his other receivers. If it does look like Rudolph starts to pickup some momentum, then they can always disguise their coverage. Mix up the different looks to cause confusion in Rudolph and watch him make a mistake.

Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh isn’t a predominately blitz happy play-caller, though I could see him dialing it up from time to time. Just to give it a different pace to pressure Mason Rudolph. All these different looks is to test to him, to see what he can handle and what he can’t.

That way Saleh can adapt and focus on his weaknesses, but that’s even if Rudolph shows promise in the game. If the 49ers defense is as good as we think, then they should have no issue ruining Mason Rudolph’s debut as a starter.