The Pittsburgh Steelers offense has struggled through the first five weeks of the season, but the team is primed to get its best route runner back for the Week Seven matchup against the Los Angeles Rams as WR Diontae Johnson himself said he will be playing after the bye week. We haven’t seen a full-strength offense since Johnson had to come off the field with a hamstring injury following a 26-yard catch and run against the San Francisco 49ers in Week One.
The offense has struggled and the reasons can be (and have been) debated endlessly. However, having Johnson back in the fold can only be a good thing for an offense looking to simply look more coherent and comfortable on the field. Johnson spoke with the media Tuesday about his recovery and his thoughts about the offensive line, and he talked about how his return should have a positive effect per a video posted to the team’s YouTube account.
“Just with me being out there specifically, giving that presence of more route running ability out there,” Johnson said about what he can offer. “Getting open, creating the separation, you know what I’m saying? Just being another weapon out there for Kenny [Pickett] and taking some of the pressure off GP [George Pickens] and the rest of the guys, allows us to have them in one-on-one matchups out there.”
There’s certainly been some criticism thrown in the direction of the wide receivers and offensive weapons in general. Some of the most passionate words were from former Steelers RB Merril Hoge who was disgusted by the receivers’ efforts running routes in the Monday night win over the Cleveland Browns, saying “This is terrible. This is not pro football.” Now, we can certainly see some evidence of the work put in by Pickens in terms of his route-running abilities so far this season, but there is no one better on the team in this regard than Johnson.
Johnson is a proven route-runner who has the ability to put just about any cornerback lined up against him in a bind on any given snap. That will force defenses to pay more attention, which should help Pickens individually and the offense as a whole.
“It takes a lot of pressure off him and opens up the field more,” Johnson said about being on the field healthy with Pickens. “Allows us to play more freely. You can’t double everybody on the field. Once you have me, AR [Allen Robinson II,] Pat [Freiermuth,] and G out there at the same time. That gives them more ability to just do what they do and not worry about if they’re gonna double me, this player, that player. Just play freely out there.”
There’s no question that something needs to change on offense as slow starts have been a major theme this season. You could certainly make the human argument that as the struggles continue, the offensive players could conceivably be pressing more and more which will only cause more issues. Playing freely, as Johnson calls it, could lead to more success as players simply focus on their jobs and stop worrying about the pressure of fixing the problems.
Getting good players on the field is always a good thing, and the Steelers offense certainly has missed Johnson the last four weeks. His being able to practice fully ahead of Week Seven should pay dividends after Pittsburgh returns from the bye week.
