One element of the Steelers' offense that was highly questionable coming into 2019 was the production of their receivers after JuJu Smith-Schuster. Their No. 1 option at wide receiver has been getting open this season and has made some big plays, but Randy Fichtner has been waiting for either James Washington or Diontae Johnson to emerge to help Mason Rudolph.
In the Steelers' 27-14 win over the Dolphins Monday night at Heinz Field, they did.
Johnson has been the biggest surprise early into his rookie season. He started training camp receiving reps after Donte Moncrief and Washington during practices. But his quick footwork and constant threat to get open have made him an undeniable option for the Steelers to ignore. Through seven games, he has the third most snaps (257) of any offensive skill player for the Steelers, behind only Smith-Schuster and James Conner. Vance McDonald is next with 248 snaps and then Washington with 228.
He's earned that with impressive footwork in college, training camp, preseason and now regular-season play. I wrote about why he deserved all the hype during preseason, and he's continued to deliver when given the opportunity.
Johnson finished his game against the Dolphins with five catches on seven targets for 84 yards and a touchdown. He consistently presented a threat the Dolphins' secondary had no answers for, even when they put their all-pro cornerback, Xavien Howard, on him.
Watch how on a third down, Johnson beats Howard with a solid comeback route. Johnson wastes little movement in his routes to scare off cornerbacks until he cuts into his break. Howard has to honor any threat that Johnson could run a fly route or cut inside of him, so he works in his backpedal to protect against it.
But when Johnson breaks outside, Howard can't react quick enough to close on Johnson, and Rudolph converts a major third down:
Johnson's ability to beat star cornerbacks as a rookie is insanely impressive and a sign that he could be a superstar in the making. Despite the Steelers' NFL rank of 28th in passing yards, the receivers, on game tape, are getting open for their quarterbacks. They've been unfortunate that while they get open, they've had to show patience as Rudolph and Devlin Hodges get acclimated to being NFL quarterbacks.
Washington hasn't been as electric as Johnson, but he has gotten open. Watch this impressive deep-in he runs to go along with an impressive leaping catch in traffic to convert a 2nd and 20. His cut to the inside was quick enough that it beats any Dolphins' defender. Rudolph throws the ball on time, though a bit behind, and Washington finishes the play with a solid catch:
Washington only finished with one catch on six targets for 21 yards, but he did more than just make that one catch during the game. He did have a drop that almost resulted in an interception, but he was also open for several of his targets which Rudolph missed with either poor throws or mistimed releases.
But what was most impressive about Washington was how he fought every minute he was on the field. He didn't care about targets, yards or touchdowns, he just wanted to fight and make the play no matter what his job was.
You saw his block on Johnson's touchdown before the end of the second quarter, but let's look at it again. He first blocks cornerback Ryan Lewis and then looks for more. He wasn't satisfied making one block for his guy, he went and sought out more work with an obliterating pancake of Nik Needham to clear the path for Johnson's final five yards of the score:
That kind of effort will get you a lot of love in the film room. And it was notable how he showed it at every stage of the game. Washington may have been surpassed by a rookie and still hasn't displayed impressive stats, but he's fighting tooth and nail to help the Steelers on every play.
Considering the narrative left behind from Antonio Brown's departure, the Steelers will be happy to see a guy that fights every play without complaint alongside a rookie that is surpassing every expectation.
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