Coaches maintain Washington still big component of offense
James Washington’s absence for much of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first game without wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was hard to miss in their 23-20 overtime win Sunday night against Seattle.
The fourth-year wide receiver, whose playing time was expected to increase with Smith-Schuster out for the rest of the season, was limited to just eight of 75 offensive snaps in the win that gave the Steelers a 3-3 record heading into their bye week.
Was it a concession to Washington’s groin injury that kept him out of the lineup the previous week against Denver?
Was it related to the game plan the Steelers designed to use against Seattle’s secondary?
Was it an indication that Ray-Ray McCloud was more deserving of filling Smith-Schuster’s spot in the slot?
On Wednesday, wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard accepted the blame for Washington’s omission from the rotation, and he vowed that Washington won’t be such a forgotten piece of the offense in future weeks.
“I have to sit up there and take it,” Hilliard said. “I know everybody is asking or looking for reasons or a scapegoat, but you can point the finger at me with that,” Hilliard said.
Mindful that Claypool (hamstring) and Washington (groin) were dealing with injuries — Claypool aggravated his injury in the second half of the Broncos game — Hilliard had McCloud take the bulk of the reps at the “F” receiver spot in practice. With the availability of those injured players in question, Cody White was designated as McCloud’s backup.
Hilliard was optimistic that Claypool and Washington could alternate series at the “Z” position.
“Chase’s hamstring held up a lot better than I expected,” Hilliard said. “With James having limited reps during the week at the F, and limited practice time, it was a little safer mentally for me in a game situation to stick with Chase out there and let him go at the Z and not throw James to the wolves at the F spot.”
Which is why McCloud played 52 of a possible 75 offensive snaps against the Seahawks, Claypool had 63 and Washington logged his fewest plays of the season. The decrease was drastic considering Washington played 66 and 49 snaps, respectively, in the two games prior to his groin injury and that was when Smith-Schuster was healthy.
“I addressed that in the room,”
Hilliard said. “Those men know and understand I’ll do a better job. James will have an opportunity to have more reps during practice at the F spot. You’ll see a clean rotation with four or five guys playing there.”
Offensive coordinator Matt Canada agreed that Washington, whose agent reportedly requested a trade in the preseason over his client’s reduced role, will be more involved in the game plan after the bye. For the season, Washington has been targeted just 14 times, with 10 receptions for 108 yards.
“We know how talented he is,” Canada said. “As the game played out and where we were at with all our situations, that’s how it worked out. We’re missing JuJu, and we’ve got good players on the edge with the guys you know. James is certainly a guy we freaking love, and we know he can do a great job.”
When players return from a five-day break, Hilliard will try to get more big plays from Claypool, who was so productive as a deep threat in his rookie season when he caught 62 passes for 873 yards and nine touchdowns. In five games this year — he sat out the loss at Green Bay with his
hamstring issues — Claypool has 22 catches for 358 yards but just one touchdown.
Although he is averaging 16.3 yards per catch, Claypool hasn’t made the contested catches downfield with the frequency he did as a rookie. Claypool caught just two of seven targets against Seattle, totaling 7 yards. And he was called for pass interference on a deep route in the fourth quarter that nearly kept the Steelers from getting a go-ahead 52-yard field goal with 1:30 left.
“We work really hard to try to manufacture plays,” Hilliard said. “Chase is unique with his size and speed and ability to adjust. In situations sometimes, you just have to make plays. We clearly haven’t done enough of that to everybody’s liking, including ours. It’s been talked about and addressed. We’ll continue to work and more of those plays will come.
“He’s too talented individually, and he’s counted on by everybody in this building, including himself, to make those plays, and he will.”