Tim Benz: For JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner, it can't just be 'Ben is back!'

The impact of Ben Roethlisberger’s absence on the 2019 Steelers offense extended well beyond who was throwing the football.

Sure, the Steelers’ starting quarterback does that better than his backups, Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges. That’s why the Steelers were only an eight-win team last season instead of one that would’ve likely gone to the playoffs with double-digit victories.

Aside from the few seconds that exist between the quarterback accepting the snap from the center and delivering it through the air, there are so many other things impacted by who is playing that position:

• How the opposing defense lines up in terms of respecting the pass or assuming run and attacking the line.

• The ability of a veteran quarterback’s mind to adjust plays and protections at the line of scrimmage.

• Getting rid of the ball on time so as not to extend the strain on his offensive line.

• Not only throwing to the proper, open receiver but also putting the ball where the receiver can do more with it after he catches it.

Roethlisberger has mastered these traits to the point he should be inducted one day into the Hall of Fame. Rudolph and Hodges were so green last season that Steelers fans maybe should be happy they figured out where the Heinz Field parking lot was let alone that they captured eight wins.

But now that Roethlisberger is coming back, offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner doesn’t want his unit to assume Roethlisberger will fix everything on his own. After all, the team’s scant 18.1 points per game (27th in the NFL) had something to do with the other 10 guys on the field as well.

“The very first thing I would tell our group is, ‘OK, knock it up. Ben Roethlisberger’s back.’ And everyone knocks on their desk or else we clap,” Fichtner said on Wednesday. “The second thing I’d say is, ‘That doesn’t excuse every man from doing their job and being great at what they do.’ Don’t think that maybe I can take a deep breath and say, ‘Ah, Ben’s back.’ That’s not the case.”

When it comes to heeding that message, the two players who need to absorb it the most are James Conner and JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Both were Pro Bowlers in 2018. Both had subpar seasons in 2019. Conner dipped from a running back with 1,470 yards from scrimmage and 13 total touchdowns to one with 715 yards from scrimmage and seven scores.

Between 2018 and 2019, Smith-Schuster’s totals plummeted in terms of receptions (69), targets (96), yards (874) and touchdowns (four).

“They have a lot to give,” Fichtner said. “It’s been out there before. They’ve seen it. They’ve done it. Both have been to the Pro Bowl. Both had outstanding years the year prior. It can happen again.”

In theory, yes. Many of the issues facing Smith-Schuster and Conner were associated with their own injuries as well as Roethlisberger’s. Conner missed six games because of various ailments. Smith-Schuster sat out four.

But they each had problems when they were on the field, too. Ball security leaps to mind. Conner had a critical fumble in the loss to San Francisco in Week 3. Smith-Schuster’s Week 5 fumble in overtime at Heinz Field against Baltimore may have been the biggest play of the season and conceivably cost the team a shot at the playoffs.

Smith-Schuster also had five drops on 70 targets. The year before he had six on 166 targets.

As a rookie in 2017, Sports Info Systems credited Smith-Schuster with a reception-percentage rate of 90.6 on what its metrics deemed “catchable” throws. That was 11th in football for players with at least 60 such opportunities. That number was at 77.8% last season, eighth from the bottom for pass catchers with that many tries.

That same site shows Conner’s yards after contact fell from 2.8 in 2018 to 2.2 in 2019. The site gave him credit for 35 broken tackles in 2018 but just 15 in 2019.

“He’s a good, positive three-down back,” Fichtner said of Conner. “He can catch the football, he can protect, he can run. I’m rooting for him, and I’m rooting that his ability will be there.”

Which largely is about being healthy enough to play.

As for Smith-Schuster, I asked Tomlin about what the receiver needs to do in his fourth year, independent of getting his starting quarterback under center once more.

“JuJu and the rest of the veterans are still in the (covid-19 protocol) testing stage,” Tomlin said Thursday. “We haven’t begun the formal process with those guys, so those types of conversations that you suggest have not transpired to this point in any formal way.”

OK. So, informally, since the Ravens game ended in Week 17, there hasn’t been a chance to tell him what he needed to work on before training camp? I mean, the guy is on Instagram and TikTok all the time. It’s not like the phone is ever out of reach.

If it isn’t Smith-Schuster or Conner who rediscovers what he had in previous seasons, maybe it’s the likes of Diontae Johnson, James Washington or Benny Snell finding higher gears from 2019.

Whatever the case, as Fichtner points out, “Ben is back” goes a long way. But not all the way to the Super Bowl.

He’ll need a lot more help than Hodges and Rudolph got from their star skill position teammates a year ago to make that happen.