JuJu Smith-Schuster made a statement Monday night with his first game back with Ben Roethlisberger after his worst season in 2019. He became Roethlisberger's best weapon in the Steelers' 26-16 win over the Giants when he caught all six of his targets for 69 yards and two touchdowns.
But it wasn't just the fact that he was putting up numbers, it was how he was getting open before doing so.
Smith-Schuster attacked the Giants laterally a good deal, as all of his targeted routes were either headed to the sideline or crossing from one side of the formation to the other:
Working to get open in those routes requires a receiver to understand the leverage a defensive back tries to maintain in coverage, then take that leverage away. Usually in man coverage a cornerback will inside leverage to force a receiver to be pinned to the sideline. On crossing routes you'll often see the approach to either cut off the route or to drape over the shoulder of the receiver to force a tight passing window.
But Smith-Schuster kept finding ways to take away whatever leverage a defender had on his routes. Here's his first touchdown as an example, where cornerback Isaac Yiadom is playing backed off and tries to keep Smith-Schuster from crossing his face at the onset of the route.
Once Smith-Schuster accelerates towards Yiadom, you can see Smith-Schuster jab step towards the end zone and force Yiadom to honor the threat he might break towards the goal post or back across the field. That one jab step froze the cornerback long enough for Smith-Schuster to accelerate past Yiadom and be wide open for Roethlisberger to connect on a comfortable floater for his first touchdown coming back after his season-ending surgery:
That was an example of Smith-Schuster getting a cornerback to give up his leverage to get into his route. Here's an example when he gets a cornerback to over-commit to maintain that leverage and use it against him.
Smith-Schuster is lined up in the slot against Darnay Holmes and runs an in-and-out route. Holmes is in press man coverage at the line and has seen Smith-Schuster beat his team with crossing patterns and tries to take that away. But Smith-Schuster takes two steps to change his direction, work back to the sideline and be wide open for another Roethlisberger in a crucial two-minute drill:
The fourth year receiver from USC displayed impressive footwork throughout the night, but hand usage and upper body control are also part of beating coverage in the NFL. Smith-Schuster used that on his second touchdown of the night when James Blackberry tried to press him.
Notice how when Blackberry engages Smith-Schuster at the line and look closely at where the two begin. You can see at the onset, Blackberry starts off with the textbook man coverage alignment with the center of his frame focused on Smith-Schuster's inside shoulder.
That position gives him inside leverage, but Smith-Schuster is going to the pylon. When Blackberry reaches out to jam him, Smith-Schuster uses his inside hand to get right in Blackberry's chest and win the hand fight at the line. Blackberry's feet get stuck in cement after losing the battle and Smith-Schuster's separation is more than enough for Roethlisberger to target:
It shouldn't be lost in review of the Steelers' win that the Giants' secondary lacks any highly reputable cornerbacks. Their best players is Jabril Peppers at safety and he was busy helping against the tight ends and coming up agains the run. But this was a game where the Steelers' receivers had to win the leverage battles by getting open early and often so Roethlisberger's first game was smooth.
Now that they've had some connections with Roethlisberger, that chemistry will improve. And just in time as the Steelers get ready to face the Broncos and former All-Pro cornerback A.J. Bouye, who Smith-Schuster has experience facing over Bouye's time with the Jaguars.