Was Duck Hodges hitting up his former team about a job?
To say the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback situation is in shambles would be too kind. We aren’t sure when Kenny Pickett is coming back or if it would even help and the combination of Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph offers no hope at all.
But what about a Duck? After the team’s embarrassing 31-10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, former Steelers quarterback Duck Hodges sent out the Tweet below as a not-so-subtle hint and made a little jab to his former team that he’s still available.
Hodges started six games for the Steelers in 2019. This was the season where Ben Roethlisberger was lost for the year in the team’s second game and it was Hodges and Rudolph holding down the fort. Hodges went 3-3 as a starter and Duck Fever was real in Pittsburgh for a short period of time. Would Hodges right off the street over three years out of football be better than what Pittsburgh has now? I want to say not but at this point, it’s hard to say.
According to the NFL transaction report, Hodges’ contract with the Steelers expired, along with four other practice squad players.
The time of Devlin “Duck” Hodges in Pittsburgh has come to an end. According to the NFL transaction report, Hodges’ contract with the Steelers expired, along with four other practice squad players.
Hodges was a briefly-beloved figure who inspired tee shirts and duck costume-wearing fans at games. Winning three consecutive games as a third-string quarterback will do that.
With a healthy Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers had no need for Hodges on the 53-man roster this season. Initially, he’d won the No. 3 quarterback position — that is, until the Jaguars cut Josh Dobbs. Pittsburgh snapped Dobbs up and released Hodges the week before kickoff and re-signed Hodges to the practice squad once he cleared waivers.
In eight games (six starts), Hodges threw for 1,063 yards, five touchdowns and eight interceptions for a record of 3-3.
Also gone from Pittsburgh are wide receiver Deon Cain, tight end Charles Jones, running back Wendell Smallwood and kicker Matthew Wright.
On Sunday, the Steelers waived quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges upon claiming quarterback Josh Dobbs off waivers.
Hodges cleared waivers on Monday, and the Steelers swooped down and snapped him up for their practice squad.
Duck was deemed a hero when he came off the bench in favor of Mason Rudolph; however, the luster didn’t last long. In six starts last season, Hodges went 3-3 for 1,063 yards, five touchdowns and eight interceptions.
The Steelers initital practice squad roster is now set at 16 players. Before rounding it out with Hodges, Pittsburgh signed running back Wendell Smallwood to the practice roster.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have two of 16 practice squad spots up for grabs.
The return of Josh Dobbs means Devlin Hodges, who started six games in 2019, will be placed on the practice squad. The Steelers announced the signing of 14 players to the practice squad, leaving open two spots. Hodges and RB Wendell Smallwood are expected to fill those spots.
The Steelers signed 14 players to their practice squad on Sunday, leaving two spots open. The number of players allowed on the practice squad increased from 10 to 12 with the new collective bargaining agreement, and from 12 to 16 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the Steelers are expected to bring back reserve quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges and running back Wendell Smallwood.
Hodges had appeared to secure the No. 3 quarterback slot when he initially made Saturday’s 53-man roster. However, when former Steelers quarterback was cut from the Jaguars Saturday and cleared waivers on Sunday, Pittsburgh responded by waiving Hodges and claiming Dobbs.
Dobbs was traded to the Jaguars a week before the 2019 season in favor of Hodges. The Steelers received a fifth-round 2020 draft pick in exchange for the quarterback.
The Steelers continue to show that they’re pulling out all of the stops to go big or go home in 2020. On Sunday, the team re-signed their former backup quarterback Josh Dobbs and starting safety Sean Davis to bolster the depth of their respective positions.
Devlin “Duck” Hodges was released to make room for Dobbs, and the corresponding move for Davis was safety Curtis Riley. Pittsburgh’s hope is to be able to put Riley back on the practice squad.
News came down Saturday that the Steelers were bringing in punter Dustin Colquitt for a tryout to potentially supplant Jordan Berry. Colquitt has played 15 seasons to Berry’s five, but they have similar stats over the last few years. Though Colquitt has 652 fewer punt yards than Berry’s 14,495, Colquitt’s is the more consistent of the two.
Dobbs didn’t play at all for the Jaguars in 2019 and appeared in just five games in 2018. According to Pro Football Reference, he had a 50 percent completion rate and threw an interception.
Davis entered the 2019 season at free safety for the Steelers on the final year of his rookie deal. He suffered a shoulder injury and was placed on injured reserve on Sept. 17, 2019. Following his injury, the Steelers traded their first-round pick to the Miami Dolphins for Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Beyond his three-interception, 92-tackle 2017 season, Davis hadn’t lived up to his second-round draft selection. Despite that, Pittsburgh was woefully thin depth-wise after his departure. Though he didn’t perform to expectations, he won’t be expected to start this time around. When Davis is in the game, at least he’ll know the system, which is a bonus — especially this season. Hopefully lessening his load will get more out of him, so to speak.
After a 2019 season where the Steelers were last in many categories, it shouldn’t be too difficult to make improvements in 2020.
With the Bengals bringing Joe Burrow to Cincinnati, Lamar Jackson showing the Ravens he has what it takes, and a new, offensive-minded head coach in Kevin Stefanski with the Cleveland Browns, the AFC North is likely to be the most competitive it’s been in recent history.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will need to step up their game on offense to compete in what will be a tough division.
Here are four areas where the Steelers need to improve to remain steady on the road to the playoffs.
Passing yards per attempt
(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
This number should automatically recover with Ben Roethlisberger back at the helm of the Steelers offense. In 2019, between Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges, the offense had to claw their way to a paltry 2,981 yards on 510 attempts (5.84 yards/attempt). Yards per attempt were down from 7.26 in Roethlisberger’s career 2018 season when he threw for 5,008 yards on 689 attempts.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges was named one of the NFL’s worst-deep ball QBs by Touchdown Wire.
Our friends at Touchdown Wire recently did a compilation of the NFL’s worst deep-ball quarterbacks. Pittsburgh Steelers’ Devlin “Duck” Hodges made the list at number 2.
Not that we expected “Duck” Hodges, the undrafted rookie from Samford, to take over for either Mason Rudolph of Ben Roethlisberger with record-breaking efficiency. But on the deep passes than generally help to define the Steelers’ offenses, Hodges was sadly in over his head through eight games and six starts. On passes to deep routes, Hodges completed 13 of 29 passes for 396 yards, two touchdowns, and six interceptions. Yes, six picks on 29 attempts, giving him a league-high interception rate of 20.7%.
At least one QB was worse than Hodges. I’ll give you a second to guess.
If you said Bears’ Mitchell Trubisky, you are correct!
According to Pro Football Focus, Hodges averaged just under seven yards a pass. Short was his sweet spot where he was 25-for-28.
Hodges’ longest pass was versus Week 12 versus the Cincinnati Bengals when he connected with wide receiver James Washington on a 79-yard touchdown.
To be fair, Hodges was plucked off the practice squad after Week 2 and thrust into action three weeks later against one of the best defenses in the league in the Baltimore Ravens. The rookie likely took minimal reps in practice, and he just wasn’t ready to be a starter.
Former New Orleans Saints and Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad in Week 17.
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Former New Orelans Saints quarterback J.T. Barrett has caught on with a new team after shuffling on and off of the Saints practice squad during his first two years in the NFL. The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Barrett to their own practice squad, the team announced Tuesday.
Barrett initially signed with the Saints out of Ohio State in May 2018, following a tryout during rookie minicamp; he went on to be released and re-signed in 28 transactions, most recently being waived on Oct. 22, 2019. That’s one shy of the dubious team record former Saints wide receiver Andy Tanner set from 2011 to 2015, having been signed, waived, or re-signed 29 times.
While it’s unlikely Barrett gets on the field at M&T Bank Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens, we can’t rule it out altogether. The Steelers are very short-handed at quarterback in the wake of year-ending injuries to Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph, with Devlin Hodges (nicknamed “Duck”) expected to close out the regular season. Paxton Lynch will back him up, rounding out this “who’s who” of NFL quarterbacks. Still, it looks like Barrett’s first real NFL action will continue to evade him.
We have signed QB J.T. Barrett and S Tray Matthews to our practice squad.
Buffalo Bills opponent information on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. Credit: Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
The Bills find themselves in a wonderful predicament, but could be all for naught if they can’t find a win over the next three weeks. The 9-4 Buffalo Bills meet the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football, their first appearance in that primetime slot in some time. Major playoff implications are at stake here, as a Bills loss can knock them back a spot in the Wild Card Race, though still in by a hair.
This is easily the biggest Bills-Steelers match up in some time, so let’s get into their history, statistics and more:
The Bills and Steelers first met on Oct. 11, 1970, in Pittsburgh, with the Steelers winning 23-10.
They met in the 1974 postseason, with Pittsburgh taking a 32-14 win in that game.
The Bills won five straight games against Pittsburgh, from Nov. 9, 1986 to their 1992 AFC Divisional Round Game on Jan. 9, 1993.
Buffalo and Pittsburgh also met in the 1995 AFC Divisional Playoff Game, with the Steelers winning 40-21.
The Bills have not defeated the Steelers in the 21st Century, with their last victory over them on Oct. 10, 1999, in a 24-21 victory.
Buffalo had an opportunity to make the post-season in the 2004-05 season. In a “win and your in” scenario. The Bills starters failed to defeat the Steelers backups, who were 14-1 heading into the final game of the season. Pittsburgh beat Buffalo 29-24, in Buffalo.
Their most recent encounter was a 27-20 win for Pittsburgh, in Buffalo.
Pittsburgh leads the all-time series, 16-9, including playoffs.
2019 So Far
In what has been a challenging year for the Steelers, including their fallout with Antonio Brown, losing Le’Veon Bell, and Ben Roethlisberger succumbing to season-ending injury in Week 2, somehow, the Steelers are still in the playoff picture, and have some favorable circumstances going for them. This season has been a massive testament to Head Coach Mike Tomlin’s ability to lead men on a football field, and is certainly a candidate for Coach of the Year.
Pittsburgh began the season with a blowout loss to the Patriots in the opening Sunday Night Football game for 2019. A 33-3 loss on primetime was no way to start the season, especially with many questioning how Pittsburgh would be effected by the losses of Bell and Brown. From there on, two more losses, a close one against Seattle, 26-28, their last game with Big Ben under center for this year, as well as a 20-24 loss to the 49ers. All three quality teams, and playoff teams at that, right now, in Week 15. Not too shabby for a team of backups despite the losses.
They earned their first win on Monday Night Football in Week 4 against the Bengals, a dominant win against a team that only has one win to it’s credit so far this season. This is also when the Steelers traded for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, a trade that turned around their defense.
However, since that Bengals win, Pittsburgh has only lost twice. To the Baltimore Ravens, a 23-26 loss in overtime, and to the Cleveland Browns in Week 11, a 21-7 loss that ended in a chaotic situation.
Pittsburgh has defeated the Chargers, Dolphins, Colts, Rams, Bengals again, Browns and Cardinals, and face a relatively favorable schedule these last three weeks. They hold criteria over a few teams that are breathing down their neck, and a win over the Bills would nearly secure their playoff aspirations.
Currently, Pittsburgh is the 29th ranked offense, with 3,771 yards of total offense. They are 31st in passing, with 2,541 pass yards and 25th in rushing with 1,230 yards on the ground.
It’s truly impressive how successful that Pittsburgh has been, especially with their personnel under center. Three quarterbacks have taken snaps for the Steelers in 2019. Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph, and most recently and successfully, Devlin Hodges. The Bills had four last season and their season was not a success.
Rudolph’s tenure as starting QB was enough for him to be at 31st in the NFL in passing yards with 1,636 passing yards, 12 passing touchdowns and nine interceptions. He had a 5-3 record as a starter. In three starts, Hodges is 3-0, and 39th in passing yards with 682 passing yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. Roethlisberger had 351 passing yards, zero touchdowns and one interception in his tenure.
It hasn’t been a great year for last year’s emerging rush sensation, James Conner. Conner was a certified stud in 2018, filling in seamlessly for the boycotting Bell. This year has been drastically different, with injuries. James Conner is currently ranked 44th in the NFL amongst rushers, leading Pittsburgh with 390 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Benny Snell is next up in rushing leaders for Pittsburgh with 320 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. Snell is ranked 49th in rushing.
Pittsburgh’s highest ranked receiver in yardage, is James Washington, who is currently ranked 50th in the NFL. He has accrued 611 yards receiving on the year, Next in line, Ju-Ju Smith Schuster, who is ranked 63rd in receiving yards, with 524 yards. Schuster has dealt with injuries all year, and has not been able to handle the workload of being a No. 1 WR with Brown leaving, and it has harmed him statistically.
One aspect that is keeping the Steelers alive and well in the playoff race is their defense, which is star studded. They are the fifth ranked defense in the NFL, allowing 4,042 yards of offense against them. Pittsburgh is also the fifth ranked passing defense, allowing 2,727 yards by air, and they are eighth in rush defense with 1,315 yards allowed.
Their defense is led by talents of T.J. Watt, Joe Haden, Bud Dupree, Cameron Hayward, Fitzpatrick, and many others.
Our weekly NFL underdog betting staple continues into Week 15 where Ken Pomponio features three teams likely to upset their underdog odds
Another big week for underdogs (10-6 against the mid-week point spreads) meant another strong week here as we notched our third straight winning weekend with a 3-0 mark.
As expected, one of my three Week 14 underdog selections won outright with the host Los Angeles Rams beating the favored Seattle Seahawks 28-12 on Sunday night, despite being 2.5-point home ‘dogs midweek.
But we saw TWO of our underdogs win straight up as rookie quarterback Drew Lock and the Denver Broncos dominated the host Houston Texans (7.5-point favorites) in a shocking 38-24 win.
The third of our three picks, the 12.5 -point underdog Washington Redskins, hung tough as expected in a 20-15 road loss on the frozen tundra of Green Bay.
That all ups our season record here to a nice, shiny and – best of all – profitable26-16.
Now we move on to a Week 15 slate that doesn’t appear as promising at first (or even fourth) glance, looking like a rare 2019 week of favorites. Regardless, we’ve found three ‘dogs to back, utilizing, as usual, Wednesday’s posted point spreads at BetMGM.com.
Here goes …
Chicago Bears (+4½) at Packers
Photo Credit: Benny Sieu – USA TODAY Sports
Don’t look now but Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears have rebounded from a 3-5 start to win four of their last five and inch onto the fringe of the crowded NFC playoff chase.
The 7-6 Bears are 4-9 against the spread, but seven of those losses have come as favorites. Now they’re getting the third-most points they’ve received all season.
The Pack? They’ve won two straight since coming out on the wrong side of a 37-8 beatdown against the 49ers in Week 12 and, at 10-3, are fighting for the NFC North title and a possible first-round postseason bye.
Green Bay, though, is 4-3 ATS as a home favorite this season. And despite the Packers’ 10-3 win in Chicago in the season opener, Trubisky & Co. should be able to keep the rematch within the number, even if they wind up falling short in the latest installment of this storied rivalry.
Dallas Cowboys (+1½) vs. L.A. Rams
Photo Credit: Quinn Harris – USA TODAY Sports
Yeah, we’re going against all the momentum and trends on both ends and side with embattled coach Jason Garrett and the ‘Boys here.
Dallas has dropped three straight, four of five and seven of 10 overall since a 3-0 start, but the club is still somehow tied for the NFC (L)East lead.
It goes against all logic to take that resume over that of the suddenly surging Rams, who have won three of four to move to 8-5 and into the wild-card hunt, but sometimes the ugly ‘dog is the right ‘dog, and we’ll bank on the Cowboys avoiding a third straight home loss.
Buffalo Bills (+2½) at Pittsburgh Steelers
Photo Credit: Rich Barnes – USA TODAY Sports
The 8-5 Steelers are a truly impressive 7-1 since a Week 5 overtime home loss to the Ravens dropped them to 1-4, and they’ve done so with the backup-QB combo of Duck Hodges and Mason Rudolph at the helm.
Still, only one of Pittsburgh’s eight wins – a 17-12 Week 10 triumph over the visiting Rams – has come against a team currently sporting a winning record.
The 9-4 Bills own a rather similar resume with only one of their nine wins – a Week 5 victory over the then-Marcus Mariota-quarterbacked Tennessee Titans – coming against a team currently sitting above .500.
But in a Sunday night matchup of AFC wild-card front-runners possessing strong defenses, we’ll take the better QB (Josh Allen) and the points on the road in a mild upset.
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