Devin Hodges, relative to my expectations, was outstanding on Sunday.
You've got to grade Devlin Hodges on a curve. He's not, and will never be, Ben Roethlisberger.
He hit passes of 28, 30, 31, and 44 yards yesterday. The Steelers #LetTheDuckChuck.
Once they took the diaper off the young man, the Steelers took full control of the game. If he wins, give Hodges an A+. That's how this should go.
That being said, there are a few things I'd like to see him clean up. His lone pick may not have been his fault. But it might have been. It was a bad coaching decision and worse execution. He needs to play clean.
On the play following the two-minute warning, Hodges threw the ball away instead of giving himself up for a sack. That gave the Browns about 30 extra seconds on the clock. It's the second time in as many weeks where he's made that mistake.
Hodges also had an awkward play where he tried to throw the ball away with his left hand. Luckily, he fumbled out of bounds. That's an example of trying to do too much. If he gets tackled behind the line there, it doesn't matter as the Steelers were well within Chris Boswell's field goal range.
Duck was only sacked once in this game, but he actually scrambled into the pressure. Hell, it happened to Baker Mayfield too when he was stripped by Bud Dupree. That being said, Hodges needed to move up in the pocket instead of fleeing to his right.
Again, I don't want to nitpick. Hodges played well enough to win. I just want to see him improve a little bit with his decision making and pocket presence.