Diontae Johnson is beginning to separate himself from other receivers around the NFL the way he separates from defensive backs on the field.
Not since Antonio Brown have the Steelers had a receiver who can come out of a break and gain separation like Johnson, who is on pace to have one of the best receiving seasons in franchise history.
And they’ve never had a receiver who had more production his first three years in the league.
Johnson’s ability to get open is one of the reasons he has become Ben Roethlisberger’s most reliable and productive receiver — and one of the reasons he has become one of the AFC’s top receivers and one of the most productive in the league over the past four games.
Ben Roethlisberger, who spent nine seasons watching Brown torture defensive backs with his separation ability, had one word for Johnson’s quick-cut ability.
“Special,” he said. “It’s quick.”
Johnson is fourth in the AFC and eighth in the league with 76 catches and 914 receiving yards. He also ranks fourth in the conference with catches of 20-plus yards (13) and 40-plus yards (4).
But in the past four games, he has become one of the top performers in the league. Since Week 9, he has 31 catches for 384 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those scores came in the 20-19 victory against the Baltimore Ravens, including the game-winner with 1:48 remaining.
“The second touchdown, he runs his route and puts his foot in the ground, and I don’t know too many people that can stop that,” Roethlisberger said. “And that’s why we put the play in. We put plays in for him to do those kinds of things, and the best way to stop him is to hold him. He’s a special talent.”
Only two receivers in the league have more catches and yards the past four games than Johnson. And one of them — Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson — will be on the field with him Thursday night in Minneapolis.
Jefferson, who is second in the NFL with 1,209 receiving yards, has 32 catches for 577 yards and three touchdowns in the past four games for the Vikings. The only other player with more catches and yards than Johnson is Los Angeles Rams receiver Cooper Kupp, who has 37 receptions and 442 yards.
Tampa Bay’s Chris Godwin has 32 catches the past four games but only 289 yards and one touchdown.
If Johnson continues his pace, he would finish the season with 108 catches, which would be sixth-most in team history. His projected 1,295 receiving yards would rank tied for 12th.
No receiver in Steelers history — not Brown (151), JuJu Smith-Schuster (211), Mike Wallace (171), Santonio Holmes (156) or Hines Ward (124) — had more catches in their first three seasons than Johnson (223), who has five more games to go.
“Watching his growth — physically, mentally, his confidence — all those things are really trajecting the right way,” offensive coordinator Matt Canada said. “His change of direction, his ability to get in and out of cuts, is certainly something we try to feature when we can. It’s something that’s a really, really positive thing for him and for us.”
Record watch
With a league-leading 16 sacks in 10 games, T.J. Watt is on pace to break the NFL’s all-time single-season sack record.
Watt is averaging 1.6 sacks per game, which means he would get eight more over the final five games if he continues that pace and stays healthy. That would give him 24 sacks, eclipsing the record of 22 ½ set by New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan in 2001.
While some might be inclined to point out that Watt is playing in a 17-game season, he would have appeared in just 15 games because of injuries. Strahan set the record in 16 games.
Because the league didn’t start keeping sack totals until 1982, Strahan is considered to have the official record. But former Detroit Lions defensive end Al “Bubba” Baker has the unofficial record of 23 sacks set in 1978.
“I think T.J. is seriously one of the best players I’ve ever played against, and I’ve played against some really good defensive guys,” said Roethlisberger, who acted as an intermediary and helped accelerate the final negotiations that led to Watt’s new $120 million contract. “He is a game-changer and a game-wrecker. I’ve been a part of guys like that — Troy Polamalu — who can change a football game, and it doesn’t happen on defense that often. To be a literal game-changer on defense is something completely special.”
Watt had a career-best 3 ½ sacks against the Ravens and was responsible for forcing the wide throw from quarterback Lamar Jackson on the Ravens’ unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt. Part of the reason is because the Steelers turned him loose against the Ravens, having him just go after Jackson instead of reading plays at the line of scrimmage.
“We put him in a position where we wanted him to get after them a little bit,” defensive coordinator Keith Butler said. “He did a good job of doing that and we were able to get after the quarterback a little bit.”
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac.
First Published: December 7, 2021, 6:06 p.m.
