Tim Benz: What Steelers QB 'Duck' Hodges actually said that motivated the Bills

Buffalo Bills defensive lineman Shaq Lawson used a perceived slight from Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges for motivation during his team’s 17-10 win at Heinz Field Sunday night.

He claims Hodges referred to the Bills defense as “normal.”

Devlin Duck Hodges apparently called the #Bills "just another defense" this week. I didn't hear it. But the Bills did.

Shaq: "I was quiet all week. I had to say some words to him.
I said 'Duck, Duck, Goose.
You can't just talk junk like that."#Billsmafia pic.twitter.com/AytmnoyUpp

— Thad Brown (@thadbrown7) December 16, 2019

Seeing as how Buffalo was ranked in the top three in total yards against, passing yards against and points against, they are hardly normal.

And based on what Hodges said to me, he concurred.

On Wednesday, I asked him “what makes Buffalo’s defense as good as it is?”

Here is how he responded, in a tone I felt was complimentary.

“They are just a solid group. They’ve got really good players all around. I don’t know if there is anything they do just special. But they just are a solid, solid defense that comes each and every week. Ready to play.”

Are those fightin’ words, Shaq? Geez! If that’s what the guy says when he is trying to dis somebody, what does he do when he tries to praise them? Throw rose petals at their feet?

But, via BillsWire.com, Buffalo’s Jerry Hughes piled on, too.

“When you’ve got Duck running his mouth throughout the week. That’s the extra motivation that we needed,” Hughes said. “Like I said, he went out there, and he talked a big game and our secondary showed up and came up big.

“Guys were fired up. We’ve got a quarterback that’s out there talking trash, that’s what makes football exciting. You go out there, play the game, pin your ears back and have fun.”

I mean, talk about inventing a phony insult. If Duck used the word “normal” to someone else, I didn’t hear it. So if that is the quote Lawson and Hughes are talking about, it hardly seems like trash talk to me.

Hodges isn’t the most polished guy in the world when it comes to giving interviews. This whole media onslaught in recent weeks is kind of new for a 23-year-old rookie from Samford. Maybe he was trying to be complimentary without being fake-gushy.

But apparently that’s what Bills players were expecting, and anything short of that was an insult.

I know. Anything to create an edge. But Buffalo’s defense should be good enough to get motivated for a crucial game like the one they just won without manufacturing some faux example of disrespect like that.