Hodges’ cult following is growing
PITTSBURGH — Devlin Hodges was asked a battery of questions Wednesday by a press corps that, for lack of a better phrase, is fawning all over him.
While Ben Roethlisberger has an almost mythical stature, and Mason Rudolph has movie star good looks, Hodges, the Duck, is one of them.
One duck-like reporter actually asked Hodges this question:
“Is there any worry about becoming a cult hero?”
That Hodges didn’t shake his head and call it a day says everything about his easygoing and grounded nature.
“I’m just worried about the game each and every week,” Hodges said. “The fans are going to do what the fans are going to do and I can only control what is in here.”
Here’s what another cult hero, the late Al Davis, would’ve said to that:
“Just win, baby.”
Well, Hodges does win.
After guiding Samford University to a 6-5 season last year, Hodges put the Steelers at the same mark with a win in relief of Rudolph last Sunday in Cincinnati. It was Hodges’ second relief appearance, and in the first he nearly beat what might be the NFL’s best team, the Baltimore Ravens, in overtime, if not for a teammate’s fumble at midfield that reversed the Steelers’ fortunes in a 3-point loss.
Hodges has made one start, at the Los Angeles Chargers in a Sunday night game, and led the Steelers to a relatively easy 24-17 win.
In roughly eight quarters of work, Hodges has completed 68 percent of his passes, at 11.8 yards per completion, for a 2-1 TD-INT ratio that’s produced an exceptional passer rating of 97.7 to lead all NFL rookies.
Not bad for a guy who wasn’t signed to an NFL 90-man roster until he completed a tryout at the Steelers’ rookie minicamp last May.
All of this, of course, was documented before Hodges’ other start this season, when his cult following was just forming.
Then, things were pretty basic. But the Duck needs to spread his wings now, because there’s tape, and tape doesn’t lie.
Is the guy who’ll start in the first true showdown game of the Steelers’ 2019 season — a game with real playoff implications against a team with whom the Steelers had melee-ed only two weeks ago — a better quarterback today than he was in Los Angeles on Oct. 13?
“I definitely think I’m better just for the simple fact of each and every day I can get better,” Hodges said. “My first start was my first start and there was a lot to learn from. It’s just one of those things that each and every day I just try to go to practice and get better and just go back to enjoying the game and having fun.”
Can the offense be opened up a bit this time?
“I don’t know. We’ll see,” Hodges said with a sly smile that said, “I’m not giving away the game plan, dude.”
He’s taking flight all right, and on the advice of no less a sly expert than Roethlisberger, who showed up at the facility in his bearded disguise to take family on a holiday tour.
“He just said be yourself, be Duck,” Hodges relayed of Roethlisberger’s advice.
“Be Duck” could become a slogan for the rest of the season, and Hodges defined that as him not having anything to lose.
Then again, a loss by the 6-5 Steelers would knock them out of that second wildcard spot they currently inhabit, and, perhaps worse, complete a season sweep by the Browns.
Nothing to lose?
“What I’m talking about is going back to being an undrafted guy,” Hodges said. “No one probably thought that I would ever be in this situation. There are just a select few in my corner that thought that. I’m ready for the game. I’m ready to go out there and have fun and get the win.”
Hodges went out and slung the ball around at practice. He certainly has the confidence of teammates and respect of the defense. But what about his coaches?
“Well, he plays with a lot of confidence for sure,” said offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner. “You wouldn’t be able to tell he’s from a small school. It’s not like playing against big schools when he was at the small school. I think he plays with a sense of ease. I think he plays with a sense of rhythm. He’s been good when we asked him to be for us.”
Why does the team respond so well to him?
“I don’t know,” Fichtner said. “We’ve won games with both of them, so they’ve responded to both quarterbacks. I think they respond to the underdog. I think we all do to some degree. I get that, but the bottom line is he’s on our roster, he’s competed, he’s been here. He’s been through training camp, he’s been through minicamp, so it’s not like it’s new. It’s not like maybe some of the other positions that we’ve had to fill in this season, so I think there’s a confidence and I think there’s a camaraderie with the players. They’ve been with him. You have your group of buddies on the team, and obviously everyone cheers for their buddy.”
And everyone cheers for the Duck, the latest cult hero.
Just keep winning, baby.
NOTES: David DeCastro, the obvious peacemaker in the Myles Garrett brouhaha in Cleveland, was quietly fined $14,000 by the league. It angered the man who eventually subdued Garrett after Garrett had assaulted a teammate. “I can’t wait to hear their explanation for trying to break up a fight,” said DeCastro. “But I guess it’s some dumb rule in the NFL where you can’t be a peacemaker, so I can’t wait to hear their explanation.” … WR JuJu Smith-Schuster’s out of the concussion protocol, after taking two cheap shots to the head in Cleveland, but his knee doesn’t appear close to being ready. He wore a brace on his left knee at the practice facility Wednesday. … Smith-Schuster was joined on the injury list by RB James Conner (shoulder) and CB Artie Burns (knee). … Alejandro Villanueva (shoulder) was limited at practice and replaced at left tackle by Chuks Okorafor.