Tim Benz: Time for Steelers wide receivers to help Ben Roethlisberger go out in style

Across Pittsburgh, Steelers fans are hoping to see quarterback Ben Roethlisberger wrap up his storied Heinz Field career in grand style Monday night against the Cleveland Browns. If that is going to happen, he’s going to need a lot of help from his receivers.

Something he hasn’t gotten enough of this season.

Sure. There have been multiple position groups that have been disappointing on this year’s Steelers team. The offensive line. The linebackers (aside from T.J. Watt). The tattered defensive line (aside from Cameron Heyward). The secondary has been inconsistent.

And Roethlisberger himself has been, well, let’s just say he’s likely retiring after this year for a good reason.

But of all the position groups we can gripe about, the receivers stand out to me because so much more was expected of them. In training camp, this was one of the rare spots on the Steelers depth chart where you could identify depth and talent.

Now, all of the sudden, return man Ray-Ray McCloud has somehow become a fixture of the unit.

“Early in my career it actually bothered me that it was just ‘return man’ next to my name,” McCloud said Thursday. “But once I honed in on that position and just made plays there, it would take care of itself on the offensive end.”

That said, even if McCloud’s name simply had “WR” next to it this August, there would’ve been four other guys in front of him on the depth chart.

JuJu Smith-Schuster was one of them. But even when he went down with an injury, that shouldn’t have been a death blow for the group.

Diontae Johnson is having a very good season. He is 10th in the NFL in receiving yards (1,079) and ninth in receptions (92). However, his issues with drops have resurfaced a bit in recent weeks, and he fumbled while untouched against Kansas City.

“It’s just football,” Johnson said. “It’s not like I try to do it on purpose or anything. I’m just trying to make a play. It’s a freak play. I fumbled the ball. It’s going to happen. You move on.”

Meanwhile, Chase Claypool hasn’t taken the second-year jump so many expected of him after a flashy rookie season. The Notre Dame product is 66 yards and 11 catches away from equaling last year’s totals. And his touchdowns have dropped from 11 to one.

Remember, this is a guy who predicted he’d score 14 times on the NFL Network at the start of the season. That’s also to say nothing of Claypool’s numerous penalties, drops, route miscues and premature celebrations.

And James Washington has flat out disappeared. He went from team-leading receiver in 2019 to persona non grata. He barely plays anymore, and the Steelers need the help at the position.

I’m sure the coaches were angry with him for demanding a trade earlier in the season but is that any reason for the dip in playing time this far into the campaign? And if that’s not the reason, is he really less potent than McCloud?

I can’t see that being the case. But the coaches must. McCloud has gotten significantly more offensive snaps than Washington (181-91) over the past four games. Offensive coordinator Matt Canada makes it sound like McCloud is simply the best available option in the slot.

“We’ve got (Johnson) and (Claypool) on the outside, and James is on the outside. And those guys, sometimes coverage dictates a lot,” offensive coordinator Matt Canada said. “We believe in Ray-Ray. We believe in all of our guys. His number of opportunities … JuJu is not here. (Tight end Eric) Ebron is not here. Last week (tight end) Pat Freiermuth wasn’t here. Those opportunities are going to spread around.”

Well, most of them have been spread toward McCloud. This may be a commentary on where the wide receivers are as a group. But coach Mike Tomlin disagrees. Following McCloud’s eight targets against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Tomlin insisted McCloud’s workload is the result of defenses trying to take away throws toward Johnson and Claypool.

On Tuesday, the coach said the receivers would be more productive if the Steelers’ anemic run game did its job better.

“Largely they’ve done a nice job of winning one-on-one battles and making splash plays,” Tomlin said. “When we’ve had our struggles running the football, people have been able to play cover two and roll corners up and do some things to minimize their impact on the game. That’s really been the challenge in terms of producing splash with those guys. In one-on-one circumstances, those guys have made their share of plays.”

Sure. That’s partially true. But the Steelers only average 6.4 yards per passing attempt, 28th in the league. They are 31st in yards per reception, at 9.8. They are third in drops at 23. In terms of catches over 25 yards, they’ve totaled 24, 19th in the NFL. The percentage of first downs per reception is 48.5, 30th in the league.

Is all that on the receivers themselves? Aside from the drops, of course not. It’s the aging quarterback. The play calling. The lack of a run-game threat for balance. An inability to block long enough to develop deeper routes.

Like anything else when discussing the 2021 Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s a little bit of everything that has gone wrong. But the receivers were supposed to be a position you could count on to be a positive more often than not.

It’s time for them to be exactly that on Monday night before their quarterback says goodbye to Heinz Field for the last time.