Why fans shouldn’t overreact about Steelers wide receiver woes

Recent woes shouldn’t create recency bias. Here’s why we shouldn’t worry about the Steelers offensive struggles.

Prior to the Steelers vs. Ravens game being played, you couldn’t say enough good things about how this young receiving core has played. With one of the most unprecedented weeks in NFL history, chances were that things wouldn’t play out as expected. Fans, experts, and even the organization came into the game thinking that we would run the Ravens out of the stadium. As we know now, that’s not how the game played out. Yes, the Steelers dropped balls left and right but we shouldn’t start panicking.

Ben Roethlisberger has done a phenomenal job of distributing the ball to all of his receivers this season. Chase Claypool, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Diontae Johnson have started off the first 11 games firing. The dropped balls on Wednesday added up and almost cost the Steelers the win. With that being said, we shouldn’t start pointing fingers and trying to change up the receiving lineup due to one game. Twitter ripped the Steelers apart after the game concluded, as they should have. Johnson, JuJu, and Claypool all know that they have to play better in order for us to have a chance at the Super Bowl this season.

James Washington needs more playing time but not at the expense of other receivers

James Washington came in clutch late in the game when he caught a jump ball against two Raven defenders. This play definitely showed the organization that he needs to be in the lineup more often. Washington has only played about 26% of snaps since week 7, according to football guys. This number dropped dramatically from 61% in the first five games. Going forward I think we will start to see more and more of Washington as he has proved to be a viable option in the passing game. He is also a deep threat and you can never have enough of those.

I’d love to see the Steelers line up four receivers more often; giving a chance for Washington to see the field more. With the run game being less efficient as the season has gone on, lining up four receivers wouldn’t be the worst idea. I’m not saying substitute the run for more passing plays but lining up four receivers could even open up the run game. Big Ben also loves when they lineup four receivers, it gives him more options and a higher chance of finding an open receiver.

Washington has also earned high praise from his fellow teammates. Big Ben even went on to say, ‘James Washington needs to get on the field more.’ Ben has seen the work that Washington has put in this season and believes he needs more playing time to show off what he’s been working on. Going forward I believe we will see Washington’s playing time reflect how much he played in the first five games.