Devlin “Duck” Hodges will start at quarterback for the Steelers on Sunday after taking all of the first-team snaps in practice this week.
Hodges is the ultimate rags-to-riches story, an undrafted free agent from a small school who made a practice squad and rose to the level of starter. That in and of itself is a great story, but if he actually performs well and wins the Chargers game, it will be even better.
Some have wondered if Hodges should be the starter even if Mason Rudolph is healthy enough to play, but that misses the point that quarterback play hasn’t been the problem with the Steelers’ passing game thus far. The problem with the passing game has more to do with who is trying to catch the ball.
The Steelers receivers have not had a good season and have not shown up in anything more than flashes. They have not helped the quarterbacks make plays and look good.
That has to change if the Steelers are going to beat the Chargers with Hodges at quarterback. He’s going to need help. Hodges might make some plays, and he may even make some tough throws, but he needs to have the opportunity to make a lot of easy ones as well.
It’s almost a certainty that he will have some easy throws built into the game plan. We have seen that with Rudolph at quarterback, as there have been a number of dump-offs, short throws to running backs, and sideways passes each week he has been under center. At times it’s almost been too conservative, but that’s all in an attempt to protect a young quarterback.
Eventually, though, Hodges is going to have to throw the ball down the field and make some throws that get big chunks of yards, especially if the running game doesn’t get rolling. The deeper throws and tougher medium range throws have to connect to loosen up the Chargers defense.
But for that to happen, Steelers receivers have to get open. They have a hard time getting off the line of scrimmage, and they’re getting very little separation from defensive backs. It’s easy to see when you sit in the press box above the field and watch plays develop. Rudolph has missed a few open receivers down the field, but not many, and he hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to make big chunk plays.
The receivers let Ben Roethlisberger down in the first game against the Patriots when they had several dropped balls, and that trend hasn’t stopped. They’ve made very few of what coaches call “combat catches.”
This starts with JuJu Smith-Schuster, who seems to be out of place in the No. 1 receiver role and on the outside. He probably would be better served if he was left at his old position and let someone like Diontae Johnson take the position once manned by Antonio Brown. Smith-Schuster was a matchup problem last year, but this year he has been mostly invisible and part of that is who he is matching up against.
James Washington has been disappointing and is out, which means Donte Moncrief may get a shot at redemption. He had a bad case of the dropsies early in the season and was benched, but now he has another shot to get it right. He almost certainly will get to dress Sunday, and if he gets on the field, he needs to catch the ball and make it easy on the quarterback.
This is a huge game for the Steelers, who probably need to win to stay in the playoff conversation, and the odds are stacked against them. All of that can be eased a little if their receivers get open and make plays.
Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com and Twitter @PaulZeise
First Published: October 11, 2019, 7:02 p.m.
