Diontae Johnson, a wide receiver with the Steelers, is not available. Two players who are nearing the conclusion of their careers will substitute for
Pittsburgh (AP) — Diontae Johnson is unsure of the precise events that occurred.
The wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers was carrying the ball when he was sprinting upfield early in the third quarter last Sunday against San Francisco. A moment later, he was walking down the tunnel with a member of the training staff, his right hamstring aching and his immediate future seriously in jeopardy.
Johnson stated on Thursday, “I was just trying to make a play.” “I just kind of fell after I planted my foot in the ground.”Johnson won’t play when Pittsburgh (0-1) visits Cleveland (1-0) on Monday night, despite the fact that he thinks his hamstring is healing. There is no schedule for his comeback, so without a guy who has averaged 85 receptions since entering the league in 2019, the Steelers will need to try to recover from their crushing defeat at the hands of the 49ers.
“It’s the inaugural game,” Johnson declared. “It wasn’t really possible for me to accomplish my goals either.”
that is, arrive at the end zone.
Johnson tried to figure out how he failed to go into the end zone for 17 weeks during the offseason. It got to the point where, in the final game of the regular season versus Cleveland, Kenny Pickett tried to force-feed Johnson the ball in an attempt to tamper with the touchdown column and turn the “zero” into a false number.
It did not occur. It appears that the wait will now last at least a week, if not longer.
It’s annoying, Johnson remarked. However, my small boy and my teammates also keep me motivated. I can’t simply be depressed or
Apart from recuperating and wishing that two players nearing the conclusion of their careers could assist in covering the gaps.
A Lisfranc injury to his left foot caused Calvin Austin to miss his whole rookie season the previous year. Seeking to make up for missed time, he showcased his exceptional speed during training camp, which is what attracted the Steelers to him in the 2022 draft. In his first game of the regular season, he was quite active, catching six passes for 37 yards. Pickett complimented him on always being in the right place at the right time.
As rookies together last summer, Pickett and Austin virtually carried on where they left off before Austin’s injury.
For Allen Robinson, things haven’t exactly been the same. The thirty-year-old was acquired by the Pittsburgh Steelers from the Los Angeles Rams during the offseason with the expectation that he would serve as a mentor to the team’s youthful wide receivers, namely Austin and George Pickens, who are both 22 years old, while also occasionally lending a hand on the field.
With Johnson out, occasionally can turn into regularly. In his most productive game in terms of yards gained in the last two years, he caught five catches for 64 yards while playing 56 snaps. Following Johnson’s departure, he made three of those catches and five of his eight targets.
Not bad for a ten-year veteran who just finished a season marred by injuries with the Rams. With just 10 games played, he had a career-low average of 33.9 yards per game.
Against the 49ers, he demonstrated with a 31-yard catch-and-run that the foot condition that forced him to be placed on injured reserve has healed. It also implied that there might be some life left in the legs that, while playing for two clubs (Chicago and Jacksonville), which aren’t exactly recognized for their passing brilliance, managed to surpass 1,000 yards receiving in a season three times.
Robinson doesn’t find it all that interesting to glance in the rearview mirror. When you ask him if he has anything to prove, he shifts his focus to the things the Steelers signed him to do, which are not visible on a stat sheet: developing into an efficient edge blocker and providing Austin, Pickens, and other players with the kind of seasoned professional that he lacked in his early career in Jacksonville ten years ago.
He declared, “I’ve tried to give people brain food as far as my experiences and things that I’ve gone through, if I could ever do that.”
Perhaps because he is aware of what he is missing today. The Jaguars selected him in the second round of the 2014 draft when he was 21 years old. Before long, he was surrounded by Marqise Lee and Allen Hurns. They were all under 23 years old.
Robinson remarked, “I wish I had someone to just give me some reinforcement back then.”
Robinson had to pick up certain skills the hard way. He’s now on the other side of the situation. He does want to play the passing game, yes. Additionally, he is aware that he was not added to an offense where Johnson is the only starting player at a skill position who is older than 25 in order to pad the stat sheet.
That does not imply that he believes those times are over. They’re not, the introduction hinted. Not entirely./cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71231618/1357360667.0.jpg)
“As a receiver, you want to be able to make plays, and I was able to do that (against the 49ers),” he stated. However, it goes beyond simply producing a few plays. The goal is to achieve victory by all means necessary.NOTES: DT Cam Heyward was placed on injured reserve by the Steelers.
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