Devlin Hodges will remain the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting QB Sunday afternoon against the New York Jets. Mike Tomlin made the announcement during his Tuesday press conference.
“Duck will start at quarterback this week,” Tomlin said. “I look forward to giving him an opportunity to rebound. I think it’s reasonable to expect growth from young players as they get exposure…I think it’s reasonable to expect him to learn from those negative experiences last Sunday night and apply it to this next opportunity. And hopefully not make those same mistakes twice.”
Hodges had his worst outing in Sunday night’s loss to the Buffalo Bills. He went 23/38 for 202 yards, one touchdown, and four interceptions.
Tomlin compared the decision to keep Hodges under center to the team allowing Mason Rudolph to start against the Cincinnati Bengals following his dreadful primetime performance versus the Cleveland Browns. Of course, that decision didn’t work out, Rudolph was benched early in the second half, and Hodges relieved him.
“Mason had a tough game on the road against Cleveland. We gave him an opportunity to respond and rebound to that performance the subsequent week against Cincinnati. So we’ll proceed with Duck, give him an opportunity to respond. There needs to be growth and development from that. It’s reasonable to expect it.”
For the year, Hodges is completing nearly 68% of his passes to go along with five touchdowns and six interceptions. He’ll face a Jets team sporting the 11th ranked pass defense in the NFL.
