Steelers' Devlin Hodges balances taking risks with managing games
Talk to any of Devlin Hodges’ current or former teammates or coaches — or even to Hodges himself — and they likely will say one of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ new starting quarterback’s greatest strengths is he plays fearlessly and with nothing to lose.
Talk to Mike Tomlin this week, though, and he’ll say with the stellar defense the playoff-contending Steelers possess, that all the coach needs is for Hodges to be a risk-averse game manager.
In making his second NFL start Sunday, can Hodges achieve that while also playing to his strengths?
“It just goes back to being prepared, taking what the defense gives you,” Hodges said after practice Wednesday. “Our ‘D’ is playing really good right now, so just not turning the ball over is (the goal). We want to go and score every drive, but at the same time, it’s about taking care of the ball and doing what it takes to win.”
That mindset is all that might be needed for a quarterback of the Steelers, who have a defense that has allowed an average of 16 points over the past eight games and is tied for the NFL lead in takeaways.
After all, when the Steelers played the Cleveland Browns two weeks ago, it was Mason Rudolph’s four interceptions that most contributed to a 21-7 loss. Turnovers were one of the primary reasons Tomlin opted to bench Rudolph and start Hodges against the Browns this Sunday.
But playing it safe isn’t in Hodges’ football DNA.
“I don’t have anything to lose,” Hodges said. “I was undrafted.”
Hodges made the Steelers as a rookie minicamp tryout out of Samford, where he won the Walter Payton Award as the NCAA FCS Player of the Year as a senior and had 14,584 career passing yards. But Hodges also had 16 interceptions as a senior and 35 in his final 35 games.
“I won’t change who I am,” Hodges said. “I go out there and have fun, compete, play hard and try to do whatever it takes to win each and every week. I won’t look ahead. I’m just looking forward to this week and playing the Browns.”
In roughly eight quarters this season, Hodges has thrown one interception on 40 pass attempts. His second throw last Sunday — his first game action in six weeks — was a 79-yard touchdown pass to James Washington.
“He plays with a lot of confidence, for sure,” Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said. “You wouldn’t be able to tell he’s from a small school. He has played against big schools when he was at a small school. He plays with a sense of ease, and he plays with a sense of rhythm. He’s been good when we’ve asked him to be for us.”
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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