JuJu Smith-Schuster may only be 24 years old but he’s had an eventful NFL career. Lots of highs, plenty of lows. Smith-Schuster said if there was one play he wishes he had back in his career, it’d be 2019 overtime fumble in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
He joined Slow News Day with Kevin Clark to talk about the one “redo” he wishes he had.
“Probably the Baltimore game where I fumbled,” he said. “That’s definitely one of my plays. Marlon Humphrey is a great player. And I know he’s going to be hitting at the ball. That’s the one play.”
Week 5, 2019 against the Ravens. Third quarterback Duck Hodges in and the Steelers, despite losing Ben Roethlisberger, were hanging tough with Baltimore. Smith-Schuster caught an over route that would’ve put the Steelers close to field goal range. But Humphrey, known for his forced-fumble ability, punched the ball out and the Ravens recovered.
Four plays later, Baltimore won on a Justin Tucker 46-yard field goal.
As Smith-Schuster said, Humphrey’s skillset is not a secret. He’s forced a whopping 11 fumbles over the past three years including an NFL-leading eight of them in 2020. Three of them have come against the Steelers. He forced two against Pittsburgh last season, including one again against Smith-Schuster and another versus Diontae Johnson. Both rolled out of bounds and stayed in Pittsburgh’s possession.
That was one of two costly fumbles Smith-Schuster has had in his career. The other was probably the bigger error. Week 16 in 2018 against the New Orleans Saints, he fumbled late in the game. That dashed the team’s hopes of making the playoffs. The next week began the end of the Antonio Brown saga. The Steelers have been searching for a playoff win ever since.
You can check out the entire interview with Clark and Smth-Schuster below. They discuss his dog Boogie, horoscopes, and touchdown celebrations.
