It was thought to be the year of the Killer B’s. But you gotta add a little JuJu to that list. Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster are the league leaders for top receiving tandem in the NFL in combined yards. Together, they have 1259 yards through eight weeks, easily the most by any pair this season.
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As the graphic shows, they’re over a 100 yards ahead of the next closest tandem, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. On the year, Brown is the league-leader with 835 yards, no one else is even close to that mark, while Smith-Schuster has 424. The rookie is actually the Steelers’ leader in touchdown receptions with four, one more than AB.
Together, Brown and Smith-Schuster make up 60% of the Steelers total receiving yards. No other player has even reached 250 yards. Martavis Bryant has 234, Le’Veon Bell 219. And only two other Steelers have hauled in a touchdown pass; Jesse James with two in the first week of the season, and Bryant has one.
Antonio Brown is still on pace for a remarkable year and is still averaging over 100 yards a game, an insane feat, even in this modern era. And as our Daniel Valente wrote a few days ago, Smith-Schuster could shatter pretty much every rookie record in franchise history.
Though Bryant will return after the bye, the job may mainly go to Smith-Schuster. He just turned in the best receiving performance of his young career and is one of the most consistent parts of the Steelers still rocky offense. Todd Haley may not want to rock the boat.
