PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan)- When Ben Roethlisberger takes the field on September 14th against the New York Giants, it will only be his third start without Antonio Brown since #84’s unsightly departure two offseasons ago.
Last season was also an injury-riddled one for JuJu Smith-Schuster who was expected to fill that top receiver role. Smith-Schuster instead ended the year with just 42 receptions for 552 yards and 3 touchdowns.
So can he be that top target for the returning Ben Roethlisberger?
Longtime football writer now NBC Sports columnist Peter King joined The Fan Morning Show Tuesday to give his thoughts.
“It’s going to be a few years and a lot more perspective before we all start to realize exactly how great Antonio Brown was. I think in his last game as a Steeler, 14 catches, 192 yards, two touchdowns in a huge game at New Orleans. So, you use that as a backdrop.
In my opinion, I don’t think JuJu Smith-Schuster is going to be a guy who is going to be a consistent 110-catch guy. He’s going to be more of a big-play guy. I also think you have to define what is a #1 receiver?
If you’re going to define it on stats only, then he’s not going to measure up probably to Antonio Brown. But, if you’re going to measure it on the fear you put in the opposition and game-planning for a team, he absolutely, unequivocally can be a #1 receiver. A good 12 to 15 teams in the NFL would say, ‘I’ll take him as my #1 receiver.’”
King also had some thoughts on Ben Roethlisberger in his comeback season and the rest of his career.
“I’m sure he’s looking at this like, ‘Give me a year or two more.’ Maybe he’s saying give me five more years. But to me, if I’m him, you’ve got to look at every year like, ‘This is it. I’ve got to lay everything on the line this particular year.’
It’s so funny, over the years everybody has argued about, ‘Hey, does Roethlisberger get his due? Are we underrating Roethlisberger compared to the Brady’s, and the Brees’s and Manning’s and all that stuff? I think you get to a point in a player’s career after 16 years or whatever it is…just play football. It strikes me that’s the attitude he has and that’s the attitude that [Mike] Tomlin and [Randy] Fichtner have and that’s probably going to serve them very well this year.”
King also said that with some teams allowing fans in their stadium this year and some not, the idea of equity and fairness and is going to go out the window in some ways this season and that just comes with the territory if we want to play football in 2020.