Tuesday’s “First Call” tells us what’s become of former Steelers cult hero Devlin “Duck” Hodges in Los Angeles.
What some thought was a potential trade destination for Mason Rudolph has come and gone.
The Yankees and Braves recreated some old time Pirates history. And “Hard Knocks” needs a soft landing spot.
Duck is done in L.A.
The Duck’s wings have been clipped in Los Angeles.
Former Steelers quarterback Devlin Hodges was cut by the Los Angeles Rams Monday. Duck didn’t play against the Las Vegas Raiders Saturday. Hodges signed with Los Angeles on a futures deal in January.
Hodges went 11 of 19 for 85 yards (4.5 average yards per attempt) with no touchdowns and an interception in the Rams’ first preseason game Aug. 15 against the Chargers.
The Rams also said goodbye to Pitt product Paris Ford. He signed with L.A. as an undrafted free agent in the spring, getting a few snaps in the second preseason game.
Digging deep
The Yankees and Braves locked horns Monday night for the first of two Interleague games.
The teams collided while boasting simultaneous winning streaks of at least nine games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s happened just three times in the history of Major League Baseball. This is the first time since Sept. 7, 1901. The teams involved that day were the Pirates (10 games) and Phillies (nine games). The Phillies won 4-1.
On Monday, the Yankees were 5-1 winners behind a home run from Giancarlo Stanton.
Stanton mashes 1 to start it off pic.twitter.com/GDIAXlhMxM— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 23, 2021
New York is currently in second place in the American League East, four games back of the Tampa Bay Rays. They lead the American League wild card race by 2.5 games on the Boston Red Sox and 3.5 games on the Oakland A’s.
Atlanta leads the National League East by 4.5 games over the Phillies.
Rosen not Rudolph
For those who thought that the Atlanta Falcons may try to acquire quarterback Mason Rudolph from the Steelers, no dice.
Instead, it’ll be former first-round pick Josh Rosen heading down to Georgia. That’s via ESPN’s Jordan Schultz.
The Falcons are in need of a quarterback because backup A.J. McCarron tore his ACL Saturday in a preseason game against the Miami Dolphins.
Rosen was selected by the Arizona Cardinals with the No. 10 overall pick in 2018. But he was quickly displaced by Kyler Murray as the first overall pick the next year.
Since then, he’s bounced to Miami, Tampa Bay, and San Francisco. Rosen has played in 20 games (16 starts), throwing for 2,845 passing yards, 12 touchdowns and 19 interceptions with a passer rating of 63.5.
Hard times for ‘Hard Knocks’
According to Sports Business Journal, HBO is averaging just 295,000 viewers through the first two episodes of this year’s “Hard Knocks” featuring the Dallas Cowboys in 2021.
That’s up 13 percent over last year’s Rams-Chargers combo season that had no exhibition games. But it is down 59 percent from the first two episodes in 2019.
Of course, that season featured the Raiders with Antonio Brown. And his ill-fitting helmet. And his cryo-feet.
How could anyone top that?
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