Jerry Hughes wasn’t on the field for the Buffalo Bills to start the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was eventually rotated in on the sixth play of the drive, but for a guy with his numbers and playmaking ability that was odd. Lorenzo Alexander and Shaq Lawson were at the outside linebacker spot instead.
Alexander and Lawson certainly have been playing well, but Lawson was behind Hughes since he returned from injury. While no one had an answer at the time, Buffalo News columnist Bucky Gleason buried this nugget in his postgame opinion piece.
“Ryan was asked about Jerry Hughes, who was benched to start the game. Ryan claimed he was merely rotating players. It was true, but he conveniently left out the fact Hughes was disciplined for telling off Rob Ryan during a heated exchange last week.”
That was the first we heard of the incident. Hughes’ playing time dropped in last week’s game against the Oakland Raiders. It fell even further against the Steelers.
Hughes didn’t have much to say about it after the game: “You have to ask the coach about that.”
Head coach Rex Ryan addressed the comments when asked at his Monday press conference, though it’s a little hard to believe he’s unaware of something happening on his defense between his twin brother and one of his best players.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Rex said, via The Buffalo News. “I guess you have to ask Jerry or my brother.”
This is probably one of those things we won’t get an answer to for a while, if ever.