PITTSBURGH _ The spark he provided was essential, if not surprising. The big-play connection with James Washington was as necessary as it was impactful. And becoming the first undrafted quarterback in the Super Bowl era to win his first three starts in the NFL was a heart-warming narrative.
But that could be coming to an end.
After a game in which Devlin Hodges looked like a duck out of water by throwing four interceptions against the Buffalo Bills, including two in the end zone in the final two minutes, it might be time for the Steelers to go back to Mason Rudolph.
It's not so much to forget the lift Hodges brought to the team during the time he replaced Rudolph early in the third quarter in Cincinnati three weeks ago, nor to put all the blame on him for what happened in the 17-10 loss to the Bills on Sunday night that ended the Steelers' three-game win streak.
But nothing Hodges has done has changed the Steelers' mind that Rudolph is their No. 2 quarterback. They moved up to draft him in the third round in 2018 and they traded Josh Dobbs at the end of training camp because they believed in him.
After deciding to ride with Hodges and the swirling Duck-mania that seemed to infect even his teammates, coach Mike Tomlin might switch back to Rudolph for Sunday's game against the New York Jets in East Rutherford, N.J.
It will be for much the same reason he started James Conner, who missed five of the previous six games with a shoulder injury, against the Bills. Even though the Steelers rushed for over 100 yards in the previous three games without him _ the first time they had done that all season _ Conner is the team's No. 1 back and he was put back in his familiar spot as soon as he was ready to go.
When Tomlin was asked after the game about a move back to Rudolph, he said, "I am not getting into that, guys. We just lost a football game. I'm not going to make an announcement every week or every time I stand in front of you guys in terms of who is playing quarterback or any other position, for that matter."
But the loss to the Bills (10-4), who have the No. 5 seed in the AFC, only serves to highlight what can happen when an offense fails to score more than one touchdown for the sixth time in the last seven games. What's more, the Steelers had the ball inside the Bills' 27 on three occasions, once at their 9, and failed to score any points.
While it has been a proven means for success to rely on a defense that is tied for first in fumble recoveries (16), second in takeaways (35) and ranks fifth overall in the league, that doesn't always apply when that fifth-ranked defense is outplayed by the league's third-ranked defense.
The Steelers held Bills quarterback Josh Allen to 139 yards passing and had two takeaways, including Steven Nelson's first interception and 40-yard return that set up the offense at the Bills' 9. But all that did was lead to more failure when receiver Diontae Johnson fumbled shortly after an awkward handoff exchange from Conner in the wildcat. In effect, the Bills' defense literally stole the Steelers' defensive thunder with five takeaways, four on interceptions.
"Usually you can learn from these types of games more than you can a win and a better performance," Hodges said. "So just go in there and learn, get better and shake it off and go."
He might not get that chance.
