JuJu Smith-Schuster took the blame for the Steelers' 16-10 loss to the Jets with another drop and missing a pass on his team's final chance at a comeback.
It was his first game since being concussed by the Browns back in mid-November and he recorded very similar statistics in both games. Against the Browns he caught two of his four targets for 21 yards, and he repeated those same numbers for 22 yards against the Jets.
So what's going on with Smith-Schuster?
We take a closer look at his play:
His 2019 season has easily been his least productive with 40 catches on 64 targets for 548 yards and three touchdowns. That includes four drops on the season, including on this drag route. It was his first target of the game and it came late in the second quarter. Mason Rudolph has the right timing with his pass but puts the ball on Smith-Schuster's back shoulder.
It still hits Smith-Schuster on his hands and is a catch he's supposed to make:
Smith-Schuster's drops have been in difficult moments of games where the Steelers' offense has struggled in 2019. But their timing is what makes them seem to fans like they're happening more often than number one receivers from other teams.
But the reality is Smith-Schuster's only had four drops in 2019, which is less than the six drops he had in 2018. And the list of other No. 1 receivers with four or more drops this season is long with DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, Michael Thomas, and Julian Edelman, among several others.
That's also not simply because of a lower volume of targets either. His completion percentage is 62.5, which is equal to or better than other number one receivers like Adam Theilen, Mike Evans and Jarvis Landry, among others.
So the raw stats of Smith-Schuster don't discount him from being among other No. 1 receivers. He started the season off at a good pace with at least 70 receiving yards in five of his first seven games. I wrote back in October that Smith-Schuster's route running hadn't regressed and he still gets open. That's still the case even after a month-long hiatus.
Watch how he sits in the soft part of the Jets' zone defense with this quick out and fights for the first down:
The reality is that Smith-Schuster's numbers are down because of having to start Rudolph and Devlin Hodges for 13 of their 15 games this season. Neither quarterback has asserted themselves with even a big performance in 2019 and that's been mostly because of missed opportunities.
That's forced the extremely young receiving corps to make several difficult catches in tight situations. Watch Smith-Schuster's tough catch in traffic to convert one of the Steelers' three successful third downs in the game.
He runs his curl route well and sits in between another zone defense from the Jets, but Rudolph's pass forces Smith-Schuster to compete with Maurice Canady. But he keeps his eyes on the ball and doesn't shy from the impending hit:
Smith-Schuster is 23 years old, just like Diontae Johnson and James Washington. So he's still extremely young for a football player and working through his own obstacles.
Part of what has stuck out for Smith-Schuster's struggles is that the Steelers have won several games in recent years with miracle catches from Antonio Brown and he has yet to have one of those moments in his first year as the Steelers' top receiver.
He had a chance at such a moment when he mistimed his jump on an errant pass from Hodges on the Steelers' final pass of the game. It would've been a remarkable play, as he started it with a good route that beat Brian Poole and won inside leverage.
But Hodges got a bad snap from B.J. Finney and hurled up a prayer of a throw that required Smith-Schuster to make a big adjustment and get behind Poole after working to cross in front of him. The bad jump ruins his best shot at the ball and it goes through his hands:
If Smith-Schuster wants to be a superstar in the NFL, he'll need to start making more catches like the touchdown he had against the Dolphins. The bottom line of his career will be the defining moments where he won or lost a game for the Steelers.
Counting this game along with his fumbles against the Ravens this year and the Saints in 2018, that's three clutch moments he came up short in seasons where the Steelers have been within a game of making the playoffs.
Granted, Smith-Schuster has come up big in multiple games, including the team's lone touchdown in the 2018 season finale against the Bengals that gave them a chance at making the playoffs. He'll get another chance this weekend against the Ravens if the Texans beat the Titans and give the Steelers a chance to win their way into the playoffs.
But 2019 has been a year mixed with several mitigating factors that led to Smith-Schuster's reduced production. It shouldn't solidify any thought's that he won't keep growing as a receiver and have more Pro Bowl seasons like his 2018 if he gets to play with higher quality quarterbacks.
MORE CLASSROOM
Dec. 24: Defense just needs a lead
Dec. 23: Line grows among concerns
Dec. 21: Better plans for O-line
Dec. 19: Double-edged aggression
