The frustration seems to continue to mount for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense, despite putting up 30 points in Week 11 against the Cincinnati Bengals. One of the hardest things to swallow has been newly extended and top wide receiver, Diontae Johnson ‘s production. While he leads the team in targets with 86, he has just 51 receptions for 456 yards and no touchdowns. All are underwhelming numbers as he is coming off a Pro Bowl a year ago. A little less than a month ago, the pass catcher was at the top of an ESPN metric that labeled him as the most open wide receiver in the entire NFL.
Since then, he has dropped to third on the list, but regardless, he is consistently getting open without having the big numbers to prove it. It has been a big talking point on Art Rooney Ave. ahead of the team’s Monday Night Football game this week. Head coach, Mike Tomlin attributes his lack of involvement recently to the opposing team’s game plan, even though Johnson is one of the league’s most open receivers.
“Diontae is a known commodity in our group,” Tomlin said hinting at the fact that defenses lock in on him as part of their plan.
Tomlin believes that other players need to step up in order to relieve some of the pressure that is being directed Johnson’s way. For the wide receiver, he was asked about the ESPN statistics that don’t come up in the box score. He admitted he did see his open rate and takes pride in getting better every day.
“I seen it. I was excited. I didn’t know they really did stuff like that. I took that as a compliment. It shows that I work hard in what I do good at. I’m putting it on film consistently. It’s really no secret, just working and believing in yourself. I’m really big on confidence. Every time I step to the line I have a game plan.”
One of the most involved people in the Steelers’ offense, play-caller, Matt Canada was completely unaware of the receiver’s ability to get open according to metrics. It’s not the most important stat, but in today’s day in age of analytics, one would think that the offensive coordinator for an NFL team would have the understanding that he has a dynamic play-maker who is always open. Canada had no clue.
“I know you guys brought that up about [Diontae] being most open and I didn’t know anything about that. That’s, you know, analytics and those things. But, obviously, he’s a guy we want to get the ball to. There’s sometimes, you know, it is what it is. He’s important to our offense.”
No one is asking the coaching staff to dive into every metric and stat that doesn’t show up in the box score. But, Johnson has not been targeted recently and his share has certainly dropped since rookie quarterback, Kenny Pickett took over as the starter. Being cognizant of a metric of this nature and understanding how open he truly is should lead to Canada designing more plays down field to get him the ball in space. Unfortunately, he is the one leading the offense and isn’t even aware that his top wide receiver is always open.
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