Wide receivers are this week’s “Weakest Link” for the Steelers
They say everything comes full circle in life, and unfortunately, we’re back to that point again with this week’s Weakest Link: the Steelers wide receivers group.
Following the reported benching of Martavis Bryant for this Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions, the Steelers are coming full circle based on not having Bryant last season; in a year where they were criticized for having no one else besides Antonio Brown, especially in the AFC Championship game, the Steelers are back to square one.
Do we remember when Ben Roethlisberger had mentioned that the “moment was too big” for those receivers who played against the Patriots?
We could be right back to that point this weekend. A year ago, the Steelers were counting on Bryant, and veteran Markus Wheaton, to be the starters. Instead, they ended the year with Eli Rogers and Cobi Hamilton as Ben’s secondary passing options. Rogers was a second-year player playing in his first season (he spent his rookie year on injured reserve). Hamilton was a journeyman receiver who was fighting to make rosters.
Fast forward to October 2017 and it feels as if the team has done a 360-degree turn. Antonio Brown is still the primary target, Bryant is once again unavailable, and the team will have to rely on an inexperienced first-year player, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and a journeyman veteran, Justin Hunter, to pick up the slack.
Eli Rogers is still around, but as a slot receiver who has seen his playing time disappear after Week 3 (twice inactive, 24 snaps in two other games) he, and not Bryant, appears to be the receiver replaced by Smith-Schuster.
Darrius Heyward-Bey is the team’s other option. DHB has played a total of 24 snaps in seven games this entire season. As for Justin Hunter, he has only been active for two games, entering those contests for a grand total of 13 plays.
The situation brews like a witch with a cauldron on this upcoming Halloween weekend as another situation where Ben Roethlisberger could have timing and rapport issue with anyone not named AB. Of course, JuJu has been a pleasant surprise thus far, but has also been involved with several of the offense’s turnovers and has himself been tagged with a few penalties in short time.
So this week, it’s up to those receivers on the active roster to maintain the “standard” the Steelers are used to, in order to keep the momentum rolling on the road; where Pittsburgh is typically panned for playing poorly.
