After leading the NFL with 13 dropped passes in 2020 (per Pro Football Reference), Diontae Johnson improved by leaps and bounds this season, cutting that number down to 5 even though he was targeted 25 more times than he had been the year before.
Unfortunately for Johnson – and the Steelers - that improvement was quickly forgotten when he dropped a pair of passes in Sunday night’s 42-21 loss in Kansas City that ended the season.
Did those two drops make the difference? Probably not, seeing as after getting shut out in the first quarter the Chiefs went on to score 6 touchdowns on 6 straight possessions. But Johnson’s drops did occur when the game was close.
The first would have given the Steelers a first down at midfield with the score 0-0 in the first quarter. Then Johnson committed a false start penalty on the next play that turned a 3rd-and-8 into 3rd-and-13.
The second drop came on a 3rd-and-2 with 5 minutes left in the half and the score, 7-7. Instead of a first down, the Steelers punted. 7 plays later Kansas City had the lead and the Chiefs continued to score touchdowns each time they had the ball until they didn’t have to really score any more.
When asked about the drops on Monday, Johnson didn’t make any excuses but he did kind of excuse himself. “People are going to drop the ball. I’m not perfect,” he explained. “I just go out and play football at the end of the day. There’s a lot of emotion going on in the game.”
“Sometimes you drop the ball. Big deal; bounce back from it and make another play,” Johnson continued. “That’s what I did. I was able to get into the end zone and still made a couple plays after the two drops that I had.”
Johnson did finish with 5 catches (on 10 targets) but the one TD he scored came after the Steelers were already behind, 35-7. Can you say too little, too late? As he spoke with Pittsburgh reporters via Zoom the day after, it was pretty apparent that Johnson has been hearing what the players and coaches call noise from fans on social media.
“I feel like that’s the main thing they focus on is the drops, but they don’t see all the good stuff that I’ve been doing throughout the whole season” Johnson said. “So it’s like why do you continue to focus on that when I’m still obviously continuing to contribute and put points on the board and have all of these catches in the game throughout the season?”
Johnson had let it be known he felt disrespected that he wasn’t selected to the Pro Bowl after his 107 catch season which tied for 5th in the NFL. He is also going into the final season of his rookie contract and is potentially in line for a big payday so that could be weighing on his mind as he heads into the off-season.
“It’s football at the end of day, the best of the best are going to drop the ball and I’m only human,” Johnson reasoned. “I’m going to drop the ball again throughout my career. All I can do is keep working.”
And all Pittsburgh fans can do is hope he quits dropping passes, at least at crucial times.