Carter's Classroom: No more JV jabs at Jesse

CLEVELAND -- While the world wondered if the move to bring in Vance McDonald would spell the end of playing opportunities for Jesse James, it was James who made the biggest impact in the Steelers' season opener.

James caught six passes for 41 yards, including two touchdowns and an eight-yard reception on the final drive to help the Steelers close out a 21-18 win over the Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium on Sunday.

Two weeks after Mike Tomlin said James and fellow tight end Xavier Grimble weren't "consistently varsity enough," the head coach turned to James in critical situations with his offense struggling.



"You know, he delivered some big-time plays, particularly in the red area," Tomlin said of James. "Performance in the red area will define us, but not only us, everyone. His contributions in that area in particular were exceptional."

That's why the Steelers run their "seven shots" drill during every training camp practice, because they value these situations as the prime opportunity for the offense to make their mark on the game.

The first of James' touchdowns came when he ran a short post against the only middle linebacker on the Browns' roster, Joe Schobert. Schobert being one of the less talented defenders in coverage made for the perfect matchup for James to exploit and he said as much after the game.

"The middle of the field was pretty open and I just had the 'Mike' to beat," James said, referring to Schobert as the "Mike" linebacker. "That's the expectation when I get a one-on-one like that."

Ben Roethlisberger read the zone coverage by the Browns, specifically how they dropped Schobert deep into the end zone while their other linebackers came up to cover Le'Veon Bell underneath:



This is one of those elite throws you rely on Roethlisberger to make into a tight window. James acknowledged the heat Roethlisberger had to put on the ball.

"It needed to be fast because that guy almost made that play. But we have Ben and he can do that kind of thing."

The offense's second touchdown was less about arm strength and more about the timing between Roethlisberger and James in close quarters. The Steelers ran a series of spacing route combinations that were designed to find the weak spots in the Browns' zone coverage.

Roethlisberger's first read on the play was Antonio Brown on a fade that was coming off a fake slant, but the Browns' cornerback, Jason McCourty, did a good job keeping up with Brown and had safety help from Derrick Kindred.

The next option for Roethlisberger was a delayed mini-screen to James that was set up at the beginning of the play. James engaged the linebacker in his space and was able to create enough separation to provide a clear target:



Once the ball was caught, the path was clear, thanks to Alejandro Villanueva.

Being in Latrobe during this summer afforded many opportunities for Mark Kaboly and me to see the Steelers use this exact play in their "seven shots" drill, where they improve their red zone efficiency.

After the game, I asked James about the play and whether he was the primary read all along or just a fail-safe option.

"Fail-safe," James replied. "We were going to check the ball outside to see if we got fades. Worse comes to worst, they hit me underneath and we see what happens."