Prior to Sunday's 24-17 win over the Steelers, Broncos cornerback Chris Harris said Denver was intent on not allowing Antonio Brown to have a big game like he did the last time the two teams met.
Brown went off for 16 receptions for 189 yards and two touchdowns in a Steelers' victory at Heinz Field in 2015, a season in which the Broncos had the league's top pass defense.
That didn't happen again in Denver last Sunday, as Brown was limited to nine catches for 67 yards and had an eight-game streak with at least one touchdown reception snapped.
That led to Denver head coach Vance Joseph declaring, "Our game plan was not to let Antonio Brown (beat us). We knew ’19’ (JuJu Smith-Schuster) was going to make some plays obviously, but the plan was not to let ’84’ (Brown) beat us. I’ve been in games where he’s beaten me single-handedly. The plan was to take him away, stop the run game as best we could with a seven-man box and just deal with ’19’ the best we could. It worked, except for a 97-yard play we gave up to ’19.’ I think Antonio, the longest catch he had was 14 yards. It worked, and we came away with a victory."
Future opponents might want to re-think that because it appears Smith-Schuster is replacing Brown as Ben Roethlisberger's favored target.
Though he won't come right out and say it, Roethlisberger has clearly started to favor Smith-Schuster.
Last week, he said he has developed a bond with the second-year receiver.
"That’s faith and trust. Just believing and understanding that he is going to be in the right spot and make plays for me," Roethlisberger said.
Tuesday on his weekly call in to KDKA 93.7-FM, Roethlisberger said Smith-Schuster was going to be his intended target on his final pass against the Broncos that ended with an interception. But that didn't happen because the shotgun snap was low and to his left.
"I was gonna throw it to Juju again," Roethlisberger said of Smith-Schuster, who was his intended receiver on first down in that sequence. "I think we should have went to him four straight plays."
On the same show, he had this to say about the final play, which was intercepted by nose tackle Shelby Harris on a pass intended for Brown. If Shelby Harris hadn't intercepted the ball, it appeared Chris Harris Jr. might instead, as he worked his way between Brown and the ball.
"Looking at it on film ... he did undercut AB," Roethlisberger said. "Who knows what would have happened? That's where I talked to AB, like 'AB, you have to come flat. You can't drift in the end zone because those undercuts can happen.'"
But Brown still gets all of the attention from opposing defenses, to the point where his numbers are down, at least in terms of catches and yardage, from recent seasons. Brown has 71 receptions for 874 yards and 11 touchdowns.
That puts him on pace for a season with 103 receptions for 1,271 yards and 16 touchdowns, a fine year by anyone's standards, save Brown. He's averaged 116 receptions for 1,596.6 and 11 touchdowns over the past five seasons.
Brown was clearly frustrated following the loss in Denver after he was double-teamed throughout the game, posting a long catch of just 14 yards. And both of Roethlisberger's interceptions came on passes intended for Brown.
But while Joseph did, indeed, win the game, giving him the opportunity to think what his team did was the right way to attack the Steelers, Smith-Schuster had 13 receptions for 189 yards and a touchdown -- the 97-yard score which Joseph referenced -- nearly matching Brown's output from that 2015 game.
Smith-Schuster now has 77 receptions for 1,055 yards and four touchdowns this season, having just turned 22 last week.
It hasn't turned the relationship between Brown and Smith-Schuster sour. In fact, Brown threw this tremendous block on Chris Harris Jr. to help spring Smith-Schuster for his 97-yard touchdown catch.
The question is, will opponents still continue to shade their coverage toward Brown instead of Smith-Schuster?
Brown has been at it longer. And his 11 touchdown catches are still tied for the league lead.
But Smith-Schuster's 110 targets this season are just 12 fewer than Brown has. Since 2013, no Steelers receiver has finished within 54 targets of Brown in a season.
Smith-Schuster seems destined to do that this season -- and be as productive, if not more so in the process.
"Typically when new guys come into this league they can surprise people, they sneak up on them, whatever you want to call it." Roethlisberger said of Smith-Schuster. "So you kind of give a year grace period to see how teams will respond or individuals will respond to that first or second year of good play. He has not just bounced back but exceeded what he did last year, so he just gets better every day."