PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan)- Despite missing almost the entire game last week against the Houston Texans after suffering a concussion, second-year receiver Diontae Johnson still leads the Steelers in targets from Ben Roethlisberger through the first 3 weeks of the season (25).
That's also tied for 14th in the NFL. Head coach Mike Tomlin said yesterday that Johnson is in concussion protocol and that "as he goes through the week, his availability will be determined by that process." That certainly leaves some uncertainty for Week 4 against Tennessee (given that it is played this weekend, of course).
So can the Steelers beat the 3-0 Titans on the road without their top receiver? Colin Dunlap and Chris Mack of The Fan Morning Show debated this on Wednesday morning.
Colin says that if you would have laid out that scenario to him at the beginning of the year (3-0 team, road game, no Johnson) he would have been really worried. But now…
"Where you've come in 3 games with this offense, certainly you still want Diontae Johnson on the field if you can have him because he's pretty good. But hasn't that worry been insulated a little bit by what you've seen in the first 3 games?
You've seen Washington be strong, because JuJu's been good, because of last week with Ebron playing well and there were questions if [Chase] Claypool would even get a pass thrown to him this year I think and what he's done the past couple weeks and has been good.
Don't you feel a little bit better because of where the other guys have come, and some have even surprised you maybe in Ebron and Claypool, that you can win a football game against a good team even when you don't have Diontae Johnson?"
Chris responded by saying that Claypool is even more essential in replacing Johnson.
"Having somebody who can work on the outside, alongside James Washington who can also do that, is of the utmost importance when you're talking about replacing Diontae Johnson's production.
I'll be honest, I really liked Chase Claypool. I liked his physical abilities, I thought his strength especially in the redzone to go up for the ball to fight for contested passes would be a huge benefit to him once he got up to speed. I didn't expect that he would be up to speed this quickly and that quite literally his speed on the field would show as much as it has in the first 3 weeks.
That's why I take heart that they can replicate some of Diontae Johnson's production. Sure, it's going to be spread out amongst a lot of different people, but when you look at Claypool, his ability to work on the outside is a big part of that."
Colin also suspects this could be an opportunity for Anthony McFarland to be utilized more as a receiver. Chris thinks if McFarland continues to provide that spark, he'll get more and more touches to display that explosive play ability. He also thinks that Ray Ray McCloud, currently the kick returner, could easily become the punt returner instead of Johnson so you don't have one of your best receivers returning kicks.
Do you feel the same about the Steelers offense without #18?
