The Pittsburgh Steelers injury report started the week extremely ugly, but has gotten better as the week progresses. Still, the report is less than ideal, with T.J. Watt and Ben Roethlisberger participating in a limited fashion, and Alex Highsmith and Diontae Johnson missing practice entirely. Johnson would be a big loss for a Steelers offense that has struggled greatly so far through two weeks. His season has gotten off to a great start despite not being in a high-powered offense.
Steelers Struggling Offense Needs Diontae Johnson in Week 3
Roethlisberger’s Favorite Target
Diontae Johnson has quickly become Ben Roethlisberger’s go-to weapon. The relationship makes sense given the nature of the Steelers offense. While he poses a solid deep threat, Johnson does his best work when running short-to-intermediate routes. When the ball is in his hands and he has room to operate, he is a dangerous player. During his young career he has made a fair share of would-be tacklers look silly with his elusive footwork. Johnson is also the team’s best route runner. In an offense where the quarterback gets the ball out quickly, receivers need to get open quickly. By a wide margin, Johnson is their best receiver at doing that.
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Though the sample size is small, the numbers support the claim that Roethlisberger prefers throwing to Johnson. The third-year receiver has been targeted 22 times through two games. Juju Smith-Schuster is the Steelers next most targeted receiver at 15, a considerable margin. Johnson’s 22 targets are also tied for third-most in the NFL through two weeks. Further, Johnson leads the Steelers in first down receptions with seven. So, not only is Roethlisberger looking to Johnson the most generally speaking, he’s also looking to Johnson in big spots when it’s time to move the sticks.
Fixing Issues with Drops
Through the first two years of his career, there was no denying the route running and playmaking abilities of Diontae Johnson. There was only one issue with his game: he struggled holding onto the football. Drops and fumbles were both big issues for him. He would run a great route only to drop a pass that hit him right in the hands. Or, he’d make a play, break a few tackles, then get him from behind and fumble. The mistakes were so frustrating because they would usually come after a highlight. But a route is only as productive as the catch that follows it.
According to Pro Football Focus, Johnson led the NFL in dropped passes last year with 15. So far this year, he has done a complete 180. Through Week 2, Johnson’s 22 targets were the most of any player without a dropped pass. He has completely reversed course with his ball security. Since that was his biggest flaw in previous seasons, if Johnson can remain sure-handed, he should be in for the best year of his career.
Diontae Johnson had the most drops in the NFL last season (15)
He has the most targets WITHOUT a drop this season (22) pic.twitter.com/B4GIOXtg2h
— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) September 21, 2021
The Unfortunate Injury
Unfortunately and frustratingly, Diontae Johnson injured his knee on the last play of the Steelers Week 2 game against the Raiders. Pittsburgh was down by nine points, so the play was completely meaningless. Even if they scored a touchdown on the play, time would have expired and they still would have lost. There really was no need to do anything but take a knee, learn from the loss, and move onto Week 3. While the injury was reported to not be serious, it’s looking serious enough to keep Johnson out of Pittsburgh’s Week 3 game with the Bengals. He missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday, usually not a promising sign for a player trying to play on Sunday. If the Steelers are without him, someone else will need to step up and replace the dependability of Diontae Johnson.
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