Steelers Player of the Week against the Packers in Week 4

The Steelers failed to get back in the win column against the Packers in Green Bay during Week 4, and Diontae Johnson was one of the lone bright spots.

While the offense continued to struggle this week on the road at Lambeau Field, Diontae Johnson showed why he is Ben Roethlisberger’s favorite target after missing the Week 3 contest due to a knee injury.

Johnson caught 9 of 13 targets for 92 yards and a touchdown, despite facing some stiff competition, with Jaire Alexander lined up on him for parts of the game. Roethlisberger only threw for 232 yards, but that didn’t stop Johnson from making an impact as his target share remained steady as it has in nearly every game that he and Roethlisberger have both been healthy for.

Steelers receiver wasted no time making his presence felt

Johnson got started early in this game, catching a 45-yard touchdown pass over Alexander on a free play on the opening drive of the game. After drawing a defender offside, Roethlisberger took a shot deep down the sideline to his top target and Johnson made the defense pay.

The touchdown was the Steelers first opening-drive touchdown of the year, as the team has struggled to get things going early in games, and has not seemed to fully click on offense at any point yet this season.

With Chase Claypool missing this game with a hamstring injury, Johnson was relied upon on the team’s deep threat. However, his strong performance was not enough to get the team back to .500 as the team struggled to move the ball on offense after the opening drive.

Poor offensive play, a turnover in their own territory, and a questionable offsides call on a blocked kick led to a game that was never really close after the first half came to a close.

Aside from Johnson, T.J. Watt, and Chris Wormley stand out as the Steelers’ top performers this week. Watt contributed four total tackles, two tackles for loss, two sacks, and a fumble recovery after missing last week’s game against the Bengals with a groin injury. Meanwhile, Wormley added four tackles of his own, while also adding a forced fumble.

The Steelers will look to stop the bleeding and turn things around next week at home against the 3-1 Denver Broncos. The team’s season outlook continues to get murkier each week and will need to turn things around fast if they have any hopes of being a competitor this season, especially considering their difficult schedule to close out the season.