The Pittsburgh Steelers won’t report for their 2020 training camp for at least a month from now so that means we still have a lot of time to fill with offseason content. For the next few weeks, I will have a series that focuses on every target that went to Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson during his 2019 rookie season. This series will include a quick breakdown and contextualization of every target that Johnson had in 2019 by game in addition to other data related to each play.
This series will move forward with a look at Johnson’s two targets in the Steelers Week 6 road game against the Los Angeles Chargers. In that game he had two targets of which he caught both of them for 14 yards. His average targeted distance against the Chargers was 1.5 yards past the line of scrimmage and his average completion distance on his two receptions was the same at just 1.5 yards past the line of scrimmage. 11 yards were gained by Johnson after the catch against the Chargers.
Target 1 – 1st & 10 – 2Q – (15:00) (Shotgun) 6-D.Hodges pass short middle to 18-D.Johnson to PIT 32 for 7 yards (71-D.Square).
Johnson’s first target against the Chargers came early in the second quarter and once again it was a run game alliterative, a wide receiver sweep that included a flip forward in the backfield. On this play, Johnson motioned left to right just before the football was snapped and quarterback Devlin Hodges quickly flipped it to him on the move. Johnson took the forward flip 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage and with the offensive linemen on the move, made a smart decision to cut back into an opening just inside the numbers. Johnson made one would-be tackler miss on his way to gaining 7 positive yards.
Target 2 – 2nd & 7 – 2Q – (12:31) (Shotgun) 6-D.Hodges pass short left to 18-D.Johnson ran ob at PIT 47 for 7 yards.
Johnson’s second and final target against the Chargers came before the midway point of the second quarter. On this second-and-7 play, Johnson, who was lined just outside the numbers on the left field side at the snap, ran a 12 yard curl/hitch route against off zone coverage. Johnson was seemingly the last read of Hodges’ progression on the play. As Hodges drifted out of the pocket to his left. Johnson did as well as he worked back to his quarterback. Hodges’ pass was outside of Johnson and toward the sideline and the wide receiver did a great job of hauling it in just prior to going out of bounds for a gain of 7 yards and a first down.
Week 6 Diontae Johnson Target Recap
| QRT | TIME | DWN | DIST | LOS | RES | YDS | DIR | AREA | DIST | YAC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 15:00 | 1 | 10 | PIT 25 | C | 7 | SM | 3 | -4 | 11 |
| 2 | 12:31 | 2 | 7 | PIT 40 | C | 7 | SL | 1 | 7 | 0 |
Diontae Johnson 2019 Target Contextualization – Week 1 – Patriots
Diontae Johnson 2019 Target Contextualization – Week 2 – Seahawks
Diontae Johnson 2019 Target Contextualization – Week 3 – 49ers
Diontae Johnson 2019 Target Contextualization – Week 4 – Bengals
Diontae Johnson 2019 Target Contextualization – Week 5 – Ravens
