Plays of the Year: Devlin Hodges’ first career touchdown pass puts Steelers up 21-0

Steel City Underground presents “Plays of the Year” featuring the tops runs, catches, hits and everything else in-between from the Pittsburgh Steelers 2019 season.

It’s hard to believe looking back on it now, but the Steelers were in desperate need of a win, any win, after falling to 1-4 in an overtime home loss to the Baltimore Ravens a week earlier.

The odds were stacked against them, however, with a Sunday Night Football date in Los Angeles against a loaded Chargers franchise. Further stacking the deck, the Steelers were now down their second starting quarterback of the season, losing Ben Roethlisberger for the year roughly a month earlier and then watching as Mason Rudolph was knocked out cold the previous weekend; the visual of his removed facemask still embedded in our memories.

That hit placed Rudolph into the league’s concussion protocol, setting the stage for an undrafted “camp arm” to play the unlikely hero. Enter undrafted rookie Devlin Hodges, better known by his clever nickname of “Duck”. His Cinderella story would start in LA for a national TV audience to witness, as the Steelers would jump out to a 14-0 lead with some intense defensive plays to kickoff the game.

Pittsburgh then had an opportunity to stack points, and make their improbable win on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers even more likely, if they could create further space with a three-score game.

This is when Hodges would strike, throwing his first NFL career touchdown pass on this 3rd-and-8 play from the Chargers 26-yard line.

The Steelers, who received the ball with 43 seconds left in the first quarter, compiled a whopping 9:09 drive which encapsulated 14 plays and 86 yards, including “Duck’s” milestone.

James Conner releases into the flat for a perfect short pass intended to simply continue moving the chains and get the Steelers a first down. However, Conner broke his initial tackle and found space in front of him as he crossed the goal line.

The final result of the drive would put the Steelers up 21-0, and eventually lead to a final score where Pittsburgh came out on top, 24-17.