Tim Benz: Airing of grievances after Steelers' 'Duck' Hodges was 'fowl' vs. Buffalo

I guess Duck finally killed ‘em.

That’s what it looks like when a fourth-string quarterback faces a top-notch NFL defense. Not pretty.

Devlin “Duck” Hodges seemed capable in his three previous starts against a Browns defense without three starters, the shoddy Arizona Cardinals and the lackluster Los Angeles Chargers. But the stout Buffalo Bills were a different animal Sunday night.

Who knew Buffalo ate Duck? But, man, did they ever chow down.

The Festivus Pole is going up with disgust this December in our weekly “Airing of Grievances” after the Steelers lost 17-10 to the Bills on Sunday.

This is what it sounds like when ducks cry

Steelers quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges has given fans of the team plenty of reasons to be happy this season.

Let’s face it, though: He hadn’t faced many good defenses before tangling with the Bills’ elite unit. Buffalo was in the top three defensively when it came to points per game, yards allowed and passing yards allowed.

And Sean McDermott’s unit made Duck look “fowl” all night long.

Must be that Tre White Goalie Academy education. #BUFvsPIT | #GoBills pic.twitter.com/h2wzRoUx4c

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 16, 2019

Hodges had just 202 yards on 38 attempts to go along with four interceptions. Wide receiver Diontae Johnson said one of the biggest problems was how Buffalo showed different blitzes than they were anticipating.

Hodges said there was some truth to that.

“On first and second down, we weren’t expecting as (many) blitzes,” Hodges said. “But they did. Credit to them. They had a great game plan and they executed.”

Hodges was sacked four times, hit three more times and scrambled for just 4 yards.

Punting

After being so-so at best in 2018, Jordan Berry had a pretty good year going until last week’s fake punt fiasco.

Our fake punt > Their fake punt pic.twitter.com/yY0gxkFGHN

— Arizona Cardinals ⋈ (@AZCardinals) December 8, 2019

The way he punted Sunday night, I wonder if he got hit so hard on that play that he somehow broke the space-time continuum and got knocked back into last season.

Berry had one punt of 22 yards and another of 39 yards. The first was so bad it essentially acted as a turnover, and the Bills scored on their next drive. It began on the Steelers’ 40-yard line.

Meanwhile, the kicking game was perceived to be an advantage for the home team going into last night.

Oh, mama

The alleged lucky charm for the Steelers defense failed them in a big way Sunday night.

When the “Renegade” montage was played on the video board during a commercial break Sunday night, the Bills turned it into their biggest drive of the game.

It started with a 40-yard bomb from Josh Allen to John Brown.

John. Brown. #BUFvsPIT | #GoBills pic.twitter.com/WjhqZ6atJj

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 16, 2019

Then it culminated in an Allen touchdown pass to Tyler Kroft.

“The defense had to get off the field,” Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward said. “We had to surrender three points. And we did not. We didn’t get the job done.”

Based on how Hodges was baffled by the Bills defense, being down by seven in the fourth quarter felt like being down 77.

Turnover time

The Steelers worked their usual magic creating defensive turnovers.

The problem was that they kept giving them back.

Johnson’s late second-quarter fumble on Buffalo’s 10-yard line on a botched wildcat play with James Conner negated a Steven Nelson interception two plays earlier.

“We have got to score points in those situations,” Steelers guard David DeCastro said. “The way our defense is playing, we don’t need much. For them to score 17 points, a lot of those we gave them short fields. We don’t have to do much on offense. We just can’t make mistakes and we made those mistakes.”

Also, Hodges threw an interception that Tre’Davious White returned 49 yards to set up a short field goal.

Johnson fumbled a second time as well, but it was recovered by Tevin Jones. And Alejandro Villanueva also recovered a Hodges fumble, or else it could’ve been worse.

What were they thinking?

Speaking of the wildcat, why run that play there?

“We have been living in that world for weeks,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said after the game. “You guys know that.”

OK. Fair enough. But if you are going to do it, do it with Jaylen Samuels. He was the one that was good at handling the direct snap and orchestrating it from the quarterback position when the scheme worked against the Bengals.

Why have Conner, just back from a few weeks off, hand it to Johnson, who has ball security issues anyway?

None of that is to mention a bad snap from Pouncey to start the play, something that has become an increasing problem.

And since we are second guessing the play calling, how about 38 passes from Hodges into the teeth of the third-best pass defense in the NFL?

Meanwhile Conner averaged 5.3 yards per carry, but got the ball only eight times on the ground.