Devlin Hodges to Continue to Start For Steelers
PITTSBURGH -- Devlin Hodges will enter his third game as the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 14. As Pittsburgh travels to Arizona to take on the Cardinals, they'll keep the undrafted rookie as their starter for the foreseeable future.
Mike Tomlin confirmed on Tuesday that the Steelers will continue to ride with Hodges. Tomlin addressed the team's overall effort heading into halftime against the Browns, stating the team "booked" the end of the half.
"Largely, I thought Duck did an awesome job of taking care of the football but that was one instance where he needed to be aggressive and work the ball down the field and he did," Tomlin said. "We were able to take the ball down the field and score, and then we were able to go in at halftime and we got the ball to start the second half and we were able to drive the field again. I thought that sequence of events, 17 points or what have you, was significant in how the game unfolded and really was pivotal of the overall trajectory of the second half which allowed us to rush them and allowed guys like Bud [Dupree] and T.J. [Watt] to do what it is they do."
Tomlin said the reason Hodges will continue to start is because he's done enough with the chances given. The Steelers still don't have a lot of tape on their starter, but Tomlin said they'll roll with Duck until he gives them a reason not to.
As for this week, Tomlin addressed the concern with going on the road to the west coast. Hodges started in Week 6 against the Los Angeles Chargers, when the Steelers won 24-17. Entering his second road game, Tomlin said his demeanor is what they'll work with to keep his confidence high.
"He's performed well in hostile environments but he just doesn't have a big sample size," Tomlin said. "I like what I saw in LA, I like what I saw in the second half in Cincinnati, but he'll be moving down to his roughly seventh quarter of road work. We respect it, we've got to prepare that way in preparation for our offensive unit."
As for the future of Hodges and the Steelers quarterback situation, Tomlin said the team is giving Duck the "appropriate" amount of attention a starting NFL quarterback warrants, but they aren't focusing on anything other than "just trying to win a game this week."
Hodges is 41-61 with 530 yards and 3 touchdowns this season. The Steelers take on the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium this Sunday.
