JuJu Smith-Schuster is getting criticism from a former teammate after missing a couple catches on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.
While quarterback Ben Roethlisberger took blame for the balls being overthrown to the Steelers wide receiver, Smith-Schuster said it was all on him.
“I make those balls,” said Smith-Schuster after the game Sunday. “I make them in practice. I fell short. I take full responsibility and blame.”
Recently retired linebacker Vince Williams took to Twitter and said that one of the throws was on Ben but that the other was one on JuJu.
“True #1 Wideouts make that catch,” Williams posted.
Smith-Schuster entered free agency at the end of last season looking for big money and considers himself a number one wide receiver.
But either the market wasn’t there, the money he was expecting wasn’t there and/or he simply isn’t a number one guy.
Williams added a comment to those questioning his take by asking, “Would AB have caught it?”
“That just tells me that Vince Williams, probably not a huge fan of JuJu, is what I infer from that,” said the PM Team’s Chris Mueller. “I think maybe JuJu can lay out for the second (throw), I don’t know if he catches it.”
“I appreciate Vince being honest and I think that’s the piece that’s missing,” said NFL Network and Fan Insider Aditi Kinkhabwala.”
Kinkhabwala adds that when someone is on the team they are afraid to say something that might look like they’re blaming a teammate so it’s refreshing to hear something a lot of people are feeling from someone who was a teammate of Smith-Schuster.