Tight end Pat Freiermuth no longer an invisible piece of Steelers' passing game

Erase the final 2 minutes, 21 seconds from existence Thursday night, and Pat Freiermuth authored a storybook performance for the Pittsburgh Steelers in their prime-time matchup at Cincinnati.

Invisible for much of the previous three games, Freiermuth caught his second touchdown pass against the Bengals, a 68-yard catch and run that stunned the home team and helped the Steelers erase a 10-point deficit.

The touchdown gave the Steelers a one-point lead, and they were 141 seconds away from winning their fourth game in a row thanks to Freiermuth’s resurgence.

“We had them there at the end,” Freiermuth said.

And then the Steelers didn’t.

A defense that had leaked the entire game allowed the spigot to be turned to full blast. The Bengals, behind 40-year-old quarterback Joe Flacco, marched down the field with ease. Evan McPherson kicked a field goal, his fourth of the game, with 7 seconds on the clock to rewrite the ending and steal the spotlight from Freiermuth.

And so it was that the 26-year-old tight end didn’t feel much like celebrating his five-catch, 115-yard, two-touchdown performance inside a quiet visiting locker room at Paycor Stadium.

“Wish we came out with the W,” Freiermuth said after the 33-31 loss. “It’s always about the team first. I’m proud of how the guys fought the whole game, but it doesn’t mean much since we didn’t win.”

The breakthrough performance was one that owners of Freiermuth in fantasy football leagues had awaited all season. Entering the first year of a four-year, $48.4 million deal he had signed less than 14 months earlier, Freiermuth was expected to play a strong supporting role in the passing game. The Steelers acquired wide receiver DK Metcalf in March to serve as the top receiving threat, and with the lack of a proven No. 2 option, Freiermuth was expected to be a complementary piece in a deep tight end group.

But after catching six passes through the first two weeks, Freiermuth disappeared from the offensive game plan. He had one catch for 6 yards at New England, played just 15 snaps and didn’t get a target against Minnesota in Dublin and had one catch for 11 yards while playing 21 snaps against Cleveland.

A common thread was the Steelers won each game. Freiermuth never complained about ceding playing time to Darnell Washington as the Steelers emphasized oversized blockers in the running game.

“He’s a good teammate,” coach Mike Tomlin said last week. “We’re winning games. We’re gaining cohesion. He’s certainly capable. He knows his time is going to come to ante up and kick in. He’d better be ready. I’m sure he will be.”

Freiermuth’s time didn’t come in the first half against the Bengals. He didn’t have a single target. Meantime, fellow tight end Jonnu Smith caught his second touchdown of the season, and tight end/fullback Connor Heyward was targeted in the end zone.

It wasn’t until four minutes remained in the third quarter that Freiermuth saw his first target. And he caught it for a 19-yard touchdown that stopped a run of 20 unanswered points for the Bengals.

“I’d actually told him at halftime, ‘If we come back and I call this play, be ready,’” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “I saw something on one of the pictures on the sideline in the first half. So at halftime I pulled him aside. I didn’t think it would be third-and-18 from the 19, but they clouded pretty hard to DK, and Pat did a nice job down the middle.

“And it was really the same play on the second touchdown.”

On that score, Freiermuth got loose in the secondary and was uncovered in the middle of the field. Rodgers hit him in stride, and Freiermuth didn’t stop running until he reached the end zone, completing the longest reception of his five-year career.

Like Tomlin, Rodgers figured Freiermuth’s time would come, and he appreciated the patience the veteran tight end showed while others played more prominent roles in previous weeks.

“It’s not like we’re not trying to call plays for them, but the coverage dictates where the ball goes,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers also got a third tight end into the scoring act, connecting with Washington on 2-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. The Steelers became the second team in NFL history to have three tight ends catch touchdown passes in a game, joining the 2018 Indianapolis Colts’ trio of Eric Ebron, Jack Doyle and Mo Alie-Cox.

A week earlier, Heyward caught his first touchdown pass of the season and third of his career. Finding a way to keep all four tight ends involved has been a challenge for offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who appreciates that he works with an unselfish group.

“You never have a problem with somebody that wants the ball,” Smith said earlier in the week. “You want people that want to work. I would have a problem if somebody didn’t want the ball or didn’t want to work. It plays out as the season goes along. … Everybody would like to have 10-plus catches, 25-30 carries. When you get a group like this, it certainly helps when you’re winning. But it’s really the makeup of the group and character. As we continue to go, we need to continue to improve.”