WATCH: Mason Rudolph throws pick-six on first pass of first NFL start

Pittsburgh Steelers rookie third-round pick Mason Rudolph looked good in backup duties during the team’s preseason opener against the Philadelphia Eagles last week.

Now tasked to start the second game of the exhibition slate, the Oklahoma State product realized really quickly that the NFL isn’t going to be as easy as it seems.

On the very first pass of his initial start, Rudolph threw a pick-six into the hands of Green Bay Packers cornerback Tramon Williams. The veteran ultimately returned it 25 yards for a touchdown.

Preseason or not, there’s no excuse for this. Rudolph didn’t look in another direction throughout the entire play. Rudolph was targeting Darrius Heyward-Bey from the get. Williams saw that, read his mind and jumped the route.

It’s certainly a learning experience for the strong-armed young quarterback.

From a Green Bay perspective, there’s nothing more the team wanted to see than this from a player in Williams it signed this past spring after spending his first eight NFL seasons in Green Bay.