Steelers News: In 2019, teams are proving you can continue to win without your starting QB

The Pittsburgh Steelers are moving into Week 7 of the NFL regular season, and as the team prepares to rest and recover during their bye week we continue to provide you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over until the next game starts!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at how teams in the NFL are proving they can win without their starting quarterbacks.

Let’s get to the news:

• The Pittsburgh Steelers might not have won a lot without Ben Roethlisberger, but plenty of other teams are winning without their starting quarterbacks.

John Steigerwald: Losing a franchise QB not an excuse anymore

By: John Steigerwald, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

It can be done.

The Steelers have won two games with quarterbacks who, before being used in an emergency this season, had never thrown a pass in an NFL regular season game.

Devlin Hodges, who was working on his world famous duck calls before being brought in off the street to back up a backup three weeks ago, was asked to do what the guy who preceded him, Mason Rudolph, was asked to do — not screw up — and he came through.

Only being asked to throw the ball 20 times in 2019 is the equivalent of being asked to throw eight or 10 passes in 1989, and he completed 15 of them for 132 yards. Just as Rudolph did on a Monday night against the Bengals, Hodges bored a national TV audience to an early bed time and won a game.

The duck caller is 1-0 as a starter. Of course, every human, who has ever been a quarterback in the first 100 years of the NFL, could have done what he was asked to do, but the Steelers have proven they can win without Ben Roethlisberger.

Let’s not dwell on the fact that the combined record of the two teams they’ve beaten without him is 2-10. With the way the defense played Sunday night and the way the offensive line opened holes for Benny Snell Jr. and James Conner, the Steelers could have beaten better teams than the L.A. Chargers.

And it’s become apparent that losing a franchise quarterback should not be used as an excuse anymore.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• If people wanted to hear Ryan Shazier pump up Devin Bush, you don’t have to wait any longer.

Devin Bush gets endorsement from Ryan Shazier

By: Darin Gantt, ProFootballTalk

Devin Bush is starting to get there.

At least, that’s the opinion of the man Devin Bush needs to replace.

Via Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Steelers rookie inside linebacker earned the seal of approval from former Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier, after last night’s win over the Chargers.

“I thought he had a great game,” Shazier said. “He’s making a lot of plays. He’s starting to become a playmaker. . . .

“You can definitely tell he’s getting more comfortable. We knew it would come. It takes time.”

Bush’s first few games might have been uneven at times, but he made up for it last night.

He scored his first touchdown as a pro on a fumble return in the first quarter, and then added an interception as the Steelers ran out to an early lead. He leads the league with four fumble recoveries.

That’s the kind of play the Steelers were anticipating, when they traded up 10 spots in this year’s draft to get Bush.

“He’s just a really good player,” cornerback Joe Haden said of Bush. “He’s always around the ball. He always seems to be in the right place at the right time. He’s a very instinctive player. He’s very ball aware.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Devlin Hodges might not have been the next coming of Ben Roethlisberer, but he played well enough to earn himself a game ball.

Steelers’ Devlin Hodges passes for 132 yards and a TD in 24-17 win vs. Chargers

By: Brooke Pryor, ESPN

For at least a moment, it felt like Ben Roethlisberger was on the field at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday night.

At least to Maurkice Pouncey.

Facing third-and-goal from the 2-yard-line in the third quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 24-17 win against the Los Angeles Chargers, the veteran center had a miscue on the snap, sending the ball between the legs of quarterback Devlin Hodges.

The ball bounced dangerously away from the end zone, the potential for disaster mounting with each roll. But the rookie quarterback raced backward, taking a moment to peek around to see if he had time to pull off a save. He found that he did, picking up the ball, rolling back toward the end zone and firing a pass in the general direction of tight end Vance McDonald.

Hodges’ pass went out of bounds, avoiding catastrophe and setting up for three points on the next play.

”He looked like Ben,” Pouncey said. “I told him, ‘I appreciate you, man.’ I was up there, talking trash, and he hurried-up snapped it. I was like, ‘Oh crap.’ But he did a hell of a job of getting that ball and throwing it out. I honestly thought in my head, ‘That’s Ben.’ Ben would’ve done the same thing. It was awesome.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

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