DETROIT -- JuJu Smith-Schuster's youthful enthusiasm is catching on with his fellow Steelers. And they're not afraid to talk about it.
After the 20-year-old rookie went off for seven catches for 193 yards, including a team-record 97-yard touchdown in a 20-15 win over the Lions Sunday night at Ford Field, it's becoming apparent it's JuJu's world. The rest of us are just living in it. Including, apparently, his teammates.
"It was great to see it. That kid is awesome," Maurkice Pouncey told me afterward. "He does all the right things. We can’t be anything but happy to have a kid like that on the team."
Especially after the kid pulled their collective fat out of the fire.
Facing third-and-long at the Pittsburgh 3 and clinging to a 13-12 lead, Ben Roethlisberger could have tried to force a pass to Antonio Brown. He could have checked into a run and played it safe with Le'Veon Bell. Instead, he went deep down the middle of the field to Smith-Schuster, the youngest player in the NFL.
"JuJu just got separation," said Mike Tomlin. "They were in two-deep man under, which is often a call in that down and distance. He did a nice job in creating separation and making the throw easy for Ben. And then the rest was just academic.”
Not exactly. Smith-Schuster isn't a burner. He ran a 4.54-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. That's fast for you and me. For an NFL receiver, it's, well, below average. But even with three Lions chasing him, he was fast enough:
"On that play, you see two high safeties, middle field open, you take it," Smith-Schuster said. "Soon as I caught it, I burst, I started picking up my legs. And once I got past the first safety, missed him, and then the second guy went for my ankles. Couldn’t get me down and I was like, ‘Man, I got this.’ And I scored, and like I said, without those guys, the front line, without them, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Crediting the guys up front. That's wisdom beyond his years.
“He had a great game — a Steeler record for longest pass play — and he was kind of beating himself up over a drop on third down late in the game,” Roethlisberger said. “To me, that was encouraging. He could've sat in there and said, ‘I had a great game. I had this big play. I made all these big plays.' But he's sitting there on the one he didn't make that potentially could've sealed it. For him to show that much maturity, be selfless and put the team first, that's what I like to see the most.”
It's why his teammates have rallied around the rookie in what was a difficult week. First, teammate Martavis Bryant made a disparaging statement about him on Instagram hours after the team had beaten Cincinnati last Sunday. Then, Smith-Schuster's bicycle was stolen. It's his only mode of transportation. Though he turns 21 next month, he doesn't yet have a driver's license, though he does now have a learner's permit.
There's no learner's permit for playing in the NFL. But Smith-Schuster has shown he's learning this NFL thing just fine.
"Big-time player. A big performance and he stepped up big," said Antonio Brown, who knows a little something about big-time performances. "It was a great performance. To go down the middle, 97 yards, one of the biggest plays in Steelers history in his first game starting. I feel good for him. He’s a hard-working kid. Comes to work hard every day. It’s great to see him have a big game today. He’s one of those guys that if you’re having a bad day, having a bad moment, you want to be around him."
Here are my 10 thoughts on Sunday's game:
1. The pass defense was uncharacteristically soft.
It seemed to me the Steelers were dropping guys into coverage instead of blitzing Matthew Stafford a lot. He made them pay early and often, finding the open players in the zone defenses the Steelers used. And when they did blitz, he often escaped pressure and made a play.
But the defense was excellent when it needed to be inside its own 10. The Lions ran 10 plays inside the Pittsburgh 10 and scored just three points off of them.
But 423 yards and six pass plays of 25 or more yards? That can't happen.
2. Next for Martavis?
When asked if Bryant could help this team moving forward, Tomlin was surprisingly non-committal when asked if he was confident the receiver can help this team down the stretch.
"I'm not," Tomlin said. "We'll see."
Ouch.
3. Watching James Harrison sit in the same spot on the bench throughout this game was troublesome.
He didn't even get up to go over and stand with the other defensive players when his unit was on the field.
The Steelers had T.J. Watt dropping into coverage a lot in this game. But there were some times when Harrison's ability to bend the corner could have been useful. Especially against Detroit's 6-9 left tackle, Brian Mihalik. But he wasn't used. It's baffling.
Harrison told me last week he had no idea how or why the coaching staff has been using him the way it has.
Kudos to him for not completely checking out. Nobody would blame him if he did.
4. Roethlisberger continues to miss open throws that he would have hit easily earlier in his career.
That's especially troubling in the red zone. He's not as accurate as he once was. And to me, it's all in his legs.
Like a pitcher who is tiring and starts to leave some pitches high, Roethlisberger just can't get his legs consistently into his throws.
He's still good enough to win. Witness the team's 6-2 record. But this defense coupled with the Roethlisberger of a couple of years ago would have been deadly.
Still, you make do with what you've got.
5. I was very surprised the Steelers didn't use Bell more in the passing game.
Detroit's linebackers have struggled in coverage this season, but Bell spent a lot of time blocking. To his credit, he had some big blitz pickups in this game, a facet of his game that often goes unnoticed.
6. Punter Jordan Berry had his best game of the season.
He averaged 47.0 yards per punt, which was nice. But more important, he kept Detroit's dynamic rookie, Jamal Agnew, from being a factor. Agnew averaged 10.5 yards on two returns and also had two fair catches. Considering he came into this game averaging 23.7 yards per return, that's outstanding.
7. If I were coaching against the Steelers, I would kick the ball short to Smith-Schuster and Terrell Watson and force them to return some kicks.
Neither is really explosive as a kick returner, but opponents just keep on kicking the ball into the end zone instead of trying to pin the Steelers inside the 20.
8. Lost in this game might have been that Matt Feiler had to come in when Chris Hubbard left late in the fourth quarter with a possible concussion.
It was Feiler's first actual playing time and he had to line up at right tackle, a position he played very little in the offseason and training camp. The Steelers played him mostly at guard.
Feiler did a nice job helping the Steelers run out the clock.
The only other injury in this one was an ankle injury to Mike Mitchell. Robert Golden, who is better as a coverage player than J.J. Wilcox, replaced Mitchell at free safety.
9. Roethlisberger was not sacked in this game, just like last week against the Bengals.
The Steelers averaged just 2.6 yards per run in this game, but the line is playing very well overall.
That's especially true when you consider they were down to their third-string offensive tackle for about 10 plays in this game.
10. This was a big game in that a less mentally tough team certainly could have lost it.
After playing back-to-back big games against AFC opponents, this one against an NFC opponent on the road right before the bye could have been overlooked. The Steelers certainly didn't play their best game, but they found a way to win.
And so they are 6-2 heading into their bye. That's not a bad spot to be in at all, and it certainly beats 5-3.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY