Kenny Pickett reacts to the Pittsburgh Steelers decision to start Mason Rudolph in Week 18.
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00:00 >> Yeah, as a competitor, you want the ball.
00:01 I want the ball in the most crucial situations of the game.
00:03 I want the ball in the biggest games of the season.
00:05 And this is what you work for, this is what you do.
00:07 But one man's misfortune is another man's opportunity.
00:11 So Mason played well when he got in there.
00:13 I have a ton of respect for Mason and everything he's done and
00:16 what our team has been doing.
00:18 So now my job to be back healthy is to be the backup.
00:20 If something happens, if he goes down, be ready to go and
00:23 continue to support him in my advantage.
00:25 >> What was the conversation like with coach about the decision?
00:29 >> It was tough early on, there really wasn't many conversations.
00:32 It was very much a day by day, week by week thing in terms of what was happening.
00:35 If Mason did not play well, I feel like I would have had to go in there earlier
00:39 than they would have wanted me to.
00:41 And that's just the truth of the situation.
00:43 So he played well, they felt where I was at in my recovery, they didn't wanna push
00:48 it and try for me to suit up and have to get thrown in there.
00:51 So that's why I didn't suit.
00:52 >> Do you need to take team reps in practice to feel comfortable playing if
00:56 you were to go on the field on Saturday?
00:59 >> You'd like to, but at this point in the season, it's kind of tough to do that.
01:02 A lot of the reps are limited.
01:03 Like you said, you have four weeks removed.
01:07 You want to get reps to just get back into the swing of things.
01:09 But where we're at right now, it's kind of hard.
01:11 >> Would you have needed team reps to be the number two last week in Seattle?
01:17 >> From a coaching standpoint, that's what they wanted me to get more reps and
01:20 they weren't comfortable with what I was looking like earlier in the week.
01:23 With where I was in my ankle.