4 Steelers players rapidly trending down heading into the bye week
By Tommy Jaggi
The Steelers are coming off their second straight win as they head into their Week 7 bye, but these four players are rapidly trending down.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are on a two-game win streak heading into their Week 7 bye, but that doesn’t mean that it’s been all sunshine and rainbows. While there have been some dominant performances in recent weeks (primarily on the defensive side of the ball), others have failed to live up to lofty expectations early on.
Following Pittsburgh’s overtime win against the Seattle Seahawks, there are four key players who are currently trending down. Here’s what they need to do to get back on track following the bye week:
Steelers WR Chase Claypool
Chase Claypool had arguably the best game of his career in Week 5 against the Denver Broncos. On just 6 targets, Claypool reeled in 5 of them for 130 yards and a touchdown. However, he plummeted back down to earth in Week 6.
Against the Seahawks, Claypool caught just 2 of 7 targets for a mere 17 yards, according to ESPN. So what caused the change? When JuJu Smith-Schuster went down with a shoulder injury, Claypool earned over 100 yards and a score from the slot last week. Outside the hashes, it’s been a much different story this year.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Claypool have had some major connection issues outside the hashes this year. As a result, the talented receiver has caught just 52.4 percent of passes thrown in his direction. Personally, I think a move to the slot following the bye could help, but that doesn’t seem to be the plan as outlined by WR coach Ike Hilliard. This connection needs to improve soon for Pittsburgh’s offense to have success.