First Call: Early odds on Steelers-Falcons; Aaron Donald injury; ex-Steeler cut to make room for Deshaun Watson in Cleveland

Tuesday’s “First Call” has the early line for the Steelers-Falcons game on Sunday. We also have some injury news about former Pitt star Aaron Donald.

A former Steeler is out in Cleveland. We take a look at Tuesday night’s game for the Penguins, and Duquesne’s seventh game of the season is big for a specific reason.

Early underdog

It looks like oddsmakers weren’t all that impressed with the Steelers’ win over the Indianapolis Colts Monday night.

Via Oddshark.com, Mike Tomlin’s team is still a 1.5-point underdog against the 5-7 Falcons Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.

The Steelers haven’t lost to the Falcons since 2006. Their last trip to Atlanta was a 27-20 win in 2014. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 360 yards, 123 courtesy of Antonio Brown.

So far this season, the Steelers have won both of their games against NFC South teams in Pittsburgh, beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-18 and the New Orleans Saints 20-10.

Related:

• Feats of Strength: Kenny Pickett, reserve running backs, timely defense erase Steelers shortcomings in win over Colts
• Kenny Pickett guides Steelers past Colts for 1st comeback win

Donald down

Former Pitt All-American Aaron Donald is dealing with an injury.

The Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle has an ankle sprain according to coach Sean McVay.

The severity of the injury is yet to be determined. McVay says Donald is still meeting with doctors and undergoing testing. However, McVay said a high ankle sprain is the presumed diagnosis, via ESPN.com.

A Penn Hills alum, Donald has five sacks, 10 tackles for a loss, 11 quarterback hits and a forced fumble in 11 games so far this season.

The Rams have been ravaged with injuries this season. Wide receiver Cooper Kupp is on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain, as well. Quarterback Matthew Stafford has missed two games while in concussion protocol. Allen Robinson II will be out for the rest of the season thanks to a stress fracture in his injured foot.

That same ESPN.com link posted an Elias Sports Bureau stat that states Los Angeles is the only team in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to use a different starting five-man offensive line combination in each of its first 11 games of a season.

Dobbs dismissed

The Cleveland Browns activated quarterback Deshaun Watson Monday. So he is now on the 53-man roster. That paves the way for his Browns debut Sunday against his former team, the Houston Texans.

In order to make room, former Steelers quarterback Josh Dobbs was waived. He didn’t throw a pass this season. Kellen Mond — a 2021 third-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings out of Texas A&M — will be the third-stringer.

The Steelers will host Watson and the Browns Jan. 8, the last game of the season.

Downgraded Hurricanes?

The Penguins host the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday night. The Hurricanes have been more like a gentle breeze of late.

Carolina’s 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Saturday snapped a five-game winless streak (five losses, four in overtime). The Canes are currently in third place in the Metro Division with 27 points, two points in front of the Penguins.

The Pens entered play Monday night with 25 points, good for a tie with Tampa Bay for the two wild-card spots.

Before face-off for Monday’s games, the Hurricanes were averaging just 2.68 goals per game — 28th in the NHL. However, the Canes are allowing only 2.77 goals against per game, eighth best in the NHL.

Carolina’s power play is clicking at a meager 16.9%, 26th in the league. The Penguins are 27th at 16.2%.

This is the first meeting between the teams this season. They’ll play again in Raleigh on Dec. 18, then again on Dec. 22 in Pittsburgh. Another game will be played down in North Carolina on Jan. 14.

Diggin’ the Dukes

Duquesne (5-1) looks for its sixth win of the season Tuesday night when it hosts the University of California-Santa Barbara (4-1).

That’s significant because the Dukes only had six wins all of last year. Keith Dambrot’s team finished 2021-22 with a 6-24 record.

Not only is this year’s Duquesne team playing better, it’s been exciting to watch. At 80.3 points per game, the Dukes are second among Atlantic 10 teams this season. Only the St. Louis Billikens are scoring at a higher clip at 80.4 points per game.

Miami-Ohio transfer Dae Dae Grant is leading the team at 19.2 points per game. Only Davidson’s Foster Loyer (22.3) and George Washngton’s James Bishop IV (21.3) are in front of him among A-10 players.

The Gauchos of UCSB only yield 62.6 points per game, fourth best among teams out of the Big West. Duquesne’s only loss was a 77-52 defeat at No. 19 Kentucky.