Rudolph is out for Sunday. Smart move.
It's the Duck show Sunday Night. May the QB controversy commence.
The 2019 Steelers just may have the most well-rounded group of QB's since the days of O'Donnell/Tomczak.
Rudolph is out for Sunday. Smart move.
It's the Duck show Sunday Night. May the QB controversy commence.
The 2019 Steelers just may have the most well-rounded group of QB's since the days of O'Donnell/Tomczak.
I liked what I saw. He scans the field well and doesn't have anyone spot he likes to throw it. In a small sample, I saw passes to the middle, left and right side of the field. Some of his throws were down the field, hitting the open receiver in a player in stride where it maximizes the chance for a run after the catch. The team seemed to have a lift when he entered the game, and he did not look like a 3rd string rookie at all. Hodges is also a quick runner, capable of taking advantage of a man coverage defense and running for yardage. My hunch is the wide receivers will enjoy playing with him more than Rudolph.
On the minus side, he should not forces passes on the run, or throw it across his body. If he can limit the turnovers, he looks like a better NFL quarterback then Rudolph to me.
I took a look at his college work. While he ripped it up in his conference, he also played very well in vs. two SEC opponents, which is impressive as his team was outgunned at every position.
The Steelers don't play well on the road in West Coast games at all. If Hodges wins this game, he'd better start the next game.
He is a gunslinger. Isn't afraid to throw it no matter the down or coverage. As we all know, that's a good thing and a bad thing.
One of his knocks is he doesn't go through his second and third reads in the pocket. He tends to scramble to find them. That isn't really any different than BR.
He can run and has above average ability for a QB. He is short with small hands. A slightly better than average arm. I think he will need reps to get going. He will have to learn what is and isn't a good throw in the NFL.
Hater = Realist
That is an excellent way to say it. He has excellent ability for a backup, let alone an undrafted rookie. And none of the shell shock that gimps 90% of backup QBs. But he probably is going to have to take some lumps on the way to being a finished product. What that means for our chances of winning any given game? Who knows!
See you Space Cowboy ...
I don't know. I get the appeal of Hodges in that he is willing to let it rip, but that by itself is just a lottery ticket. Cue all the cliches about double-edged swords, good thing and and bad thing, blades that cut both ways, living by the sword and dying by the sword ... man, there sure are a lot of sayings about swords, aren't there? If you were an alien from outer space and you heard people talking, you'd probably think everyone carried swords around all the time, like 10,000 times more than they actually do.
Anyway, my point was, he's basically got one game to show the world what he's got, and nothing to lose really, so it ought to be exciting. But at this stage, it is not about development and progress, it's basically just opening a box where you have no idea what's in it. Remember, even Landry Jones looked good enough to fool everyone the first time he was in a real game.
Rudolph is the complete opposite kind of exciting, looking more like his endgame is to be ruthlessly efficient and just keep getting better at it. To make another different-sport comparison, it's like he's Floyd Mayweather and Hodges is Ricky Hatton. I thought Mayweather was just terrible to watch, by the way, but just using that as an example and don't think Rudolph could ever be that much of a cocksucker no matter what his style is.
See you Space Cowboy ...
I think Mason is a perfectionist so it’s going to take him a little time to get his sea legs.
Overall a good 1st start.
Good job. Didn't look frightened like some of the past backups
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Duck didn't look all that different from Rudolph to me. Very conservative. Overall Duck did what he was asked to do and didn't blow it. The INT was a poor playcall and I don't get on him for that. He was solid otherwise.
Quarterback is definitely not a weakness on this team. Far from it.
Duck looked competent but far from NFL ready. He makes quick decisions but his ball placement was poor all night. Left several plays on the field that you just have to have at the NFL level.
Belongs in the league but needs much more development.
A win's a win, but that was some very conservative play. I don't know whether it was by design, or simply Hodges taking what was available. I think I saw maybe half a dozen passes all night that were not dump-offs to the RBs and TEs. If I was an opposing coach, I'd load up to stop that stuff and see if he could beat us throwing downfield. Could he? Maybe, or maybe not.
I can't be upset - I mean, for your backup's backup, who was starting the first game of his career, that was pretty damn good. Still a long way to go though.
See you Space Cowboy ...
Besides having the same number, he doesn’t really have much in common with bubby. Brister could throw the deep ball, haven’t seen much of that from Hodges.
I'm glad Rudolph is coming back after the bye.
I thought Hodges did a great job other then the int. Again like them both and cool if Rudolph is back as the starter.
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Brister could throw the deep ball into the stands at will. Thank God Hodges is not a Bubby clone. Brister was garbage and made Neil look like Joe Montana taking over for him.
Why? Mason's 63/94 for a 67 percent completion average. Hoedges is 22/29 for a 76 percent completion average. They both have 6.9 average yards per attempt as well. More stats will be available once this game updates in the stats. But from what I can tell, at the end of the day there's very little difference between the two. Hodges seems to have a little stronger throw, but not quite enough touch. Mason has good touch, but is a low-middle in arm strength. One other thing to note is Mason's taken 3 sacks, two against SFO and one against Baltimore. So far, Hodges hasn't (but he's also started two less games).
One thing I do find interesting though, both of them came in and slung the ball around when they had to step in as a backup. However, the next games, they were handcuffed.
But there isn't really any difference in QB play between Mason and Hodges at this point. (They do things a bit different, but they have the exact same affect on the game).
Because I think Rudolph was gaining some momentum. I think the handcuffs were about to come off and hopefully will be against Miami. Rudolph has a 102 passer rating playing conservatively, with a 7/2 TD/INT ratio. With my eyes, I see a much higher ceiling with MR than Hodges. I think MR can be the next guy and I don't see anything other than a backup career in Hodges.
Statistics are like bikinis. They show you a lot but not everything.
Hodges looks like a capable backup, definitely someone who can manage the game, but don't count on him to air it out and win a game with his arm. He didn't do anything overly impressive, but what I did like is in the face of pressure this kid looked calm the whole time.
I agree. I would prefer the guy with 2 years in the system that secured the #2 QB job in training camp, to the guy the coaches deemed the #4 QB in training camp, who has one year less with the team.
Plus, I think a guy that plays against Oklahoma, Texas, Baylor, etc every year for 4 years gets exposed to a lot better defenses than a guy that plays the likes of Mercer, Chattanooga, Furman on a regular basis. I like Hodges and he had some positive qualities shown in the preseason, but I think Rudolph is further along in his development.
But, I get it. The bigger the underdog, the bigger the attraction, so Hodges gets a lot of love.
Passing over 10 yards seemed to be a struggle, I don't think he completed one pass over 10 yards last night, that would be problematic for a vet but for an undrafted 3rd string rookie making his first start, it's something to forgive at the moment. However, he did really well in the short passing game and showed some poise even when the ball went below his feet on the snap he handled it well. Poise isn't an issue at all.
Yes, same type of limited gameplan as when Rudolph got the first start. Only difference is that this is a win and everybody glosses over that fact, while in the first start(and loss) that Rudolph got, there were narratives of a weak arm and lack of confidence and even cool pass distribution graphs to show how he didn't push the football down the field.
That INT was a duck blur