Back in February when I wrote that JuJu Smith-Schuster was more than ready to be the Steelers' No. 1 receiver, it was because of his big plays against tight coverage. Replacing Antonio Brown's production sounds impossible when he just came off the six best consecutive seasons of any receiver in NFL history.
But Smith-Schuster didn't get his 1,426 yards on 111 catches just by luck. He worked to sharpen his release and route tree to maximize his opportunities as defenses focused their attention on Brown. Even when he got the attention of elite cornerbacks, he was a tough assignment.
The best examples of this came in his late efforts to complete the comeback against the Jaguars last season. The Steelers had to move quickly and the Jaguars' secondary had been dominant over the past 11 quarters of play between the teams. But Smith-Schuster pulled off two great examples of one of the most difficult plays to cover: the back shoulder catch.
Back shoulder throws are in the arsenal of almost every elite quarterback, but having the receivers to pull them off is just as important. Ben Roethlisberger regularly did it with Brown, and tried it twice with Smith-Schuster. The art of completing a back shoulder catch requires the receiver to make the cornerback honor various threats of their route, whether going deep or crossing to the middle of the field.
The cornerback has the advantage of pinning the receiver to the sideline to close down the passing window, so it's Smith-Schuster's job to open enough space to open a window. He does that here against A.J. Bouye, an All-Pro cornerback with a stutter step that slows up Bouye just enough so that Smith-Schuster can get past him.
Once he passes Bouye by a step, Bouye has to commit to chasing Smith-Schuster to prevent a leading pass deeper down the field. This is what prevents him from ever looking to the back shoulder throw, allowing Smith-Schuster the space to make the grab:
Just because the back shoulder is difficult to cover, does not mean it's easy to execute. If the receiver fails to force the cornerback to honor other threats they can wait for the back shoulder throw and turn the pass into an interception. Those are the interceptions that usually lead to defensive touchdowns because a cornerback is usually past the receiver on the interception and the only hopes of tackling him are the offensive line and quarterback.
Smith-Schuster would later pull off the same back shoulder against Jalen Ramsey, the NFL's best cornerback and one of the most aggressive ballhawks. But against Smith-Schuster, Ramsey had to honor an efficient release off the line and by the time the ball was in the air, Smith-Schuster was already locked on while Ramsey was unable to turn and find the ball:
This might've been Smith-Schuster's best catch of the season as it helped spark the Steelers' second touchdown in the middle of a 16-point comeback. But it's a perfect example of why Smith-Schuster already has the rapport with Roethlisberger to pull off the tougher scenarios that built an elite connection between Roethlisberger and Brown.
When Smith-Schuster lines up outside the numbers in 2019, watch for more of these throws and how consistent they're completed. Completing them consistently will provide a challenge to cornerbacks that could prove extremely frustrating to plan against and draw the kind of attention needed to open up more opportunities for other players in Randy Fichtner's offense.
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