As Antonio Brown was helped from the field by two athletic trainers Sunday, chants of "M-V-P!" came from the stands at Heinz Field.
Never mind the fact a receiver has never won the NFL's Most Valuable Player award. Never mind the fact the Steelers were playing in -- and losing -- their biggest regular-season game in years. Never mind the fact Brown had just dropped a pass in the end zone -- although it happened while he was in the process of suffering what Mike Tomlin called a "substantial" calf contusion.
The stadium-record crowd of 68,574 knew the larger truth: The Steelers were losing one of their most important players.
How important? Put it this way, here is how Brown's 2017 season matches up against the top TWO receivers on every other team in the NFL courtesy of Steelers PR man Dom Rinelli:
Yeah, he's kind of a big deal, one the Steelers will likely be without in their final two regular-season games, starting Christmas Day in Houston.
Perhaps more importantly, since Le'Veon Bell burst onto the scene as a second-round draft pick in 2013, the Steelers have played 25 games in which Brown, Bell or Ben Roethlisberger were not available. Their record in those games is just 12-13. But only one of those games has come without Brown, who has been incredibly durable in his career. He hasn't missed a regular-season game because of an injury since 2012, sitting out last season's finale against the Browns in a coach's decision.
At the time of his injury, Brown was leading the NFL in receptions with 101 and receiving yards with 1,533. His 27 catches of 20 or more yards are five more than any other player, while the 71 first downs he has produced are five more than anyone else.
Before leaving Sunday's game, he became the first player in NFL history to record five consecutive 100-catch seasons.
"You can’t replace him with one man," Roethlisberger said. "AB is not human. So we will have multiple guys trying to fill that spot. But I know that we have guys that are excited, willing to try and fill those shoes."
Excited? Perhaps. Willing? Sure.
Capable? Well, that might be a completely different matter. Brown has been targeted 162 times this season. No other wide receiver on the team has had more than 73 passes thrown his way.
The last time Brown sat out a game with an injury came in the playoffs in 2016 at Denver after he suffered a concussion the previous week in an 18-16 win at Cincinnati. Martavis Bryant caught nine passes for 154 yards and had two runs for 40 more, while Darrius Heyward-Bey and Sammie Coates had two receptions each for 64 and 61 yards, respectively. Markus Wheaton chipped in five receptions for 30 yards.
Forget being role players. The other receivers had to step into more prominent positions.
"I just did what I had to do, what the team needed me to do," Bryant told DKPittsburghSports.com of that game. "I didn't try to do anything special. I just let the game come to me."
After Brown left the 27-24 loss to the Patriots, the Steelers had to adjust their offense. Rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster caught four passes for 84 yards, 69 of which came on a catch-and-run to the New England 10 with 34 seconds remaining. And Bryant had three receptions for 20 yards, including a 4-yard, one-handed TD catch on third-and-goal at the end of the first half.
But replacing Brown as a third-down receiver might be the Steelers' biggest issue. He has 25 catches on third down this season, averaging 17 yards per catch in those situations. Smith-Schuster and Bell are tied for second on the team in third-down catches with 15 each.
Without Brown to worry about, teams could be more focused on Bell, who enters the final two weeks leading the league in rushing with 1,222 yards and ninth in receptions with 80.
"I know each and every week, I come in as the focus of trying to be stopped," Bell said. "With all of this, I'm not going to change how I prepare myself. I'm going to continue to go out and do what I do, make plays when opportunities present themselves."
Not having Brown in the game changed the way the Patriots defended the Steelers. Bryant caught a 39-yard pass down the sideline working one-on-one against Stephon Gilmore right before Brown left the game. Brown, meanwhile, was seeing plenty of Malcolm Butler in coverage with safety help on his side.
"After AB went out, they started rolling the safety to my side," the 6-4 Bryant said. "They changed what they were doing a little bit."
That's where Smith-Schuster could come into play. While he doesn't possess Brown's quickness or Bryant's size and straight-line speed, he's a physical receiver and has a knack for catching balls in traffic. Of Smith-Schuster's 15 third-down receptions this season, 13 have resulted in first downs for the Steelers -- though one of those failed conversions came late in the game against the Patriots on third-and-4 when he was stopped after a three-yard gain.
Still, Roethlisberger was happy with the contributions he got without his No. 1 target available.
"They did great. Guys stepped up, played different positions, JuJu, Eli, Hey-Bey, Martavis, so really proud of the way those guys played," Roethlisberger said.
They'll need to do even more -- at least for the next two weeks until Brown returns. But, as Bryant said, they don't need to press and try to do too much. Instead, they just need to do what is asked of them.
"We've just got to do what we've been doing," Bell said. "Move the ball and try to get a W."
BUY A CHRISTMAS GIFT SUBSCRIPTION!
[pmpro_advanced_levels levels="8,10,12" layout="4col"]