Claypool, Smith- Schuster are good buds
Young Canadian and veteran star are bonding on and off the field
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers are 5-0 for the first time in 42 years, and you know what? They’re boring as heck.
No one is tossing Gatorade coolers on the sidelines. No one is requesting trades or ripping their teammates on social media.
The last time the Steelers were this good, they were the most dysfunctional team in the National Football League, or darn near close to it. Everything mentioned in the previous paragraph took place three years ago this month. And all three episodes were produced and directed by and starred Steelers receivers.
Yes, the Steelers were their own little soap opera in 2017, when they went 13-3 and finished as the No. 2 seed in the AFC. Antonio Brown threw his temper tantrum on the sidelines in Baltimore after Ben Roethlisberger failed to target him. Martavis Bryant requested a trade two weeks later after a big win in Kansas City and then ripped JuJu Smith-Schuster one week after that following another win over the Cincinnati Bengals, all because Smith- Schuster’s role was growing at his expense.
“I want him to get his I just want mines period point blank,” Bryant infamously typed out after he caught one pass for three yards in a 29-14 victory at Heinz Field.
There is a familiar storyline developing this season with the Steelers, but without all the drama. Smith-Schuster is now the Steelers’ No. 1 receiver, and he’s watching Chase Claypool, a Canadian from Abbotsford, B.C., develop into a rookie sensation before his eyes, just as Brown and Bryant watched Smith-Schuster become a star three years ago.
The circumstances are eerily similar. In the latest Steelers victory, an impressive 38-7 blowout of the Browns, SmithSchuster had two catches for six yards while Claypool led the team in receiving yards for a second consecutive week and padded his team-leading touchdown total to six.
Smith-Schuster’s statistics are down for the season, too. He has 23 catches for 194 yards, which is tied for 85th in the league. But his reaction hasn’t been to lash out in frustration the way Brown and Bryant did.
He celebrates with Claypool, James Washington and the other receivers after their touchdowns. He hasn’t let on — at least not publicly — that he’s disenchanted with his role within the offence.
And, on Wednesday afternoon, he continued to say all the right things.
“I’m having fun all the time, whether I’m getting the ball or not, whether I’m getting two catches for 10 yards or six catches for 60 yards,” Smith-Schuster said.
“For me, it’s about the team, the atmosphere. Our defence is doing the job and having fun. The offence is having fun. My teammates are having fun. I’m happy being 5-0. I hear a lot of people talking like, ‘You only got me two points in fantasy.’ Well, I’d rather have two points and be 5-0 than be 1-4 and have 25 fantasy points.”
Roethlisberger said Smith-Schuster’s enthusiasm is authentic. “He’s the leader of that room,” Roethlisberger said. “He’s the fun leader in the group. He brings a lot of energy and excitement to the team and to the football game. When I said last week that he was excited for other guys ... what you see on Sunday is what you get with JuJu. He is that guy. That’s who he is. He doesn’t put on a show. He loves playing the game and he loves his teammates, and that’s a great combination to have.”
Smith-Schuster didn’t have a lot of tutelage in the receiver room as a younger player. He was 19 years old when he arrived but, in many ways, he was more mature than Brown and Bryant. Now Smith- Schuster plays the role of mentor with a young group of talented playmakers. They have fun on the field and off. Claypool lives in the same complex as Smith-Schuster, and they developed a friendship away from football.
“Fun fact: Chase lives right above me so he’s down here pretty often,” Smith-Schuster said. “He eats dinner, takes all my snacks, my Uno cards, plays video games. I would say our connection is very, very strong right there.”
The connection is strong on the field, too. Smith-Schuster is playing in the slot more this season, which has opened up a spot on the outside for Claypool to make plays. Like Bryant in 2017, Smith- Schuster is in a contract year. Many players might have bristled at such a move, but Smith-Schuster has accepted it.
Entering Sunday’s game against the Titans, he is on pace to set career lows for yards per catch and yards per game while the rookie is grabbing all the headlines. But none of that seems to matter to SmithSchuster right now.
“Chase is doing a tremendous job,” he said. “Coming into my rookie year I would say Antonio Brown took a lot of the pressure away and I was going against No. 2s. Since Chase is new, not a lot of people know about him. But, obviously, you can see the kid can play. The kid is balling out. I’m happy for him.”
The impressive part for the Steelers is they’ve scored 38 points the past two games without Diontae Johnson, who led all rookie receivers in catches last season. He was injured early in the first quarter against the Eagles and did not play against the Browns.
Johnson practised Wednesday and could return Sunday to face the Titans, giving the Steelers their full complement of playmakers for the game against one of only two other undefeated teams in the league.
“This last game is an example of what happens when having weapons across the field,” Claypool said. “I was expecting to get doubled at some point in the game with the safety over the top. I really didn’t see that because JuJu was on the other side of the field for those plays, and they were kind of focusing on him and James, as well. It opens things up for sure.
“I’ve been talking about the depth for a long time now. It’s only a matter of time before teams take notice that there’s not much they can do. That’s pretty exciting.”