When wide receiver Diontae Johnson spoke earlier this week about the trust factor he has with quarterback Mason Rudolph, he's speaking from plenty of experience.
In seven career games in which he has started with Mason Rudolph and both have finished the game, Johnson has 29 receptions for 456 yards and three touchdowns. That's a healthy 15.7 yards per reception average.
Overall, Johnson has 40 catches for 564 yards and four touchdown catches with Rudolph on the field.
Overall, Johnson accounts for nearly 24 percent of Rudolph's career 2,369 career passing yards and a full 25 percent of his touchdown passes.
Included in those is a six-reception, 77-yard game with a touchdown against the Bengals, a game with five catches for 84 yards and a score against the Dolphins, one with three receptions for 96 yards against the Rams and a seven-catch, 83-yard performance against the Lions in 2020.
You can expect something similar Saturday against the Bengals. Rudolph and Johnson have a good connection.
"I've got a lot of reps with Tae and enjoy throwing him the ball," said Rudolph. "And I enjoy working with him. He's a good dude. And so, I'm going to try to keep that rolling."
One of the main jobs of a backup quarterback is not necessarily to go out and win the game for his team, but more so to not lose it.
It's a fine line to walk.
But Rudolph understands that, as well.
"I think you want to obviously move the chains and score points, but let's not be foolish with the football. Let's find the open guy and take what the defense gives you, check the ball down when you need to and don't try to be the hero," Rudolph said. "And I think when you think like that, I think you don't put too much pressure on yourself, and you can end up playing smooth, getting into rhythm."
That's another reason Rudolph has worked so well with Johnson in the past. A great route runner, Johnson is nearly always open.
It's all about knowing where your easy completions are at and then taking them. For Rudolph, when he's played, that has largely meant getting the ball to Johnson.
• The Steelers have held a lead for just over 205 minutes this season. That is the fourth-fewest minutes with a lead in the NFL.
They've also run just 160 snaps with a lead this season, the third-fewest in the NFL.
Despite that, T.J. Watt enters Week 16 with a league-best 16 sacks. He also has 55 tackles, seven pass defenses, an interception, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and a touchdown to go along with 16 tackles for a loss. In addition, he also has 29 quarterback hits.
With the exception of tackles, pass defenses and interceptions, he's in the top 10 in all of those defensive statistics. And he's in the top 5 in sacks, fumble recoveries, quarterback hits and tackles for a loss, making him the only player in the league who can say that.
During the Steelers' current three-game losing streak, he has 14 tackles, 2.5 sacks, a pass defense and four tackles for a loss. So, he's continued to produce, even though the team has struggled around him.
Imagine what kind of numbers Watt would put up if he played with a lead more often and could just consistently rush the passer.
In a season riddled with injuries all around him, Watt has been a constant for the Steelers.
Some other players around the league have had good defensive seasons in 2023. But Watt's has been the most consistent – and most dominant.
He should be the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year.
"Absolutely, in my opinion," said fellow Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith. "He's leading the league in sacks. He's getting picks, forcing turnovers. Yeah, I think without a doubt he should be."
And the key is Watt's consistency.
"He's week-in and week-out, making plays," Highsmith said. "He's dedicated to his craft. He brings it every week."
• The Steelers have lost three games in a row after beating the Bengals, 16-10, in Cincinnati Nov. 26. The Bengals, meanwhile, have won all three of their games since, including a pair of overtime victories.
How have the Bengals managed that with star quarterback Joe Burrow out, replaced by Jake Browning?
They've gotten the ball out of Browning's hands quickly.
Browning's average target of depth on his passes is 6.3 yards. That means that every time he's thrown a pass, on average, it travels 6.3 yards past the line of scrimmage.
As a team, the Bengals are now at 6.43 yards per depth of target. That's the lowest in the NFL by a significant margin.
The next closest team is Kansas City, which is averaging 6.83 yards per pass.
When people talk about the Bengals and their passing game, they immediately think about wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd.
But with Burrow out, it's been the ancillary guys who have been catching more of the passes to help Browning along.
In last week's come-from-behind overtime win over the Vikings, Browning completed 29 of 42 passes for 324 yards. Of that total, 16 of his 29 completions were to running backs and tight ends, and they went for 131 yards. They came on 18 targets.
Chase, Higgins and Boyd combined to catch 10 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns, both by Higgins. Those receptions came on 17 targets.
"He feels confident and he's spreading it out to a lot of people, especially his running backs," said Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward. "I think (Joe) Mixon and (Chase) Brown are doing an amazing job. I think since the last time we played they've got like 12 to 15 balls just out of the backfield. So, you know we got our work cut out for us."
So, Browning is going downfield to his wide receivers, but he's checking things down – a lot – to his running backs and tight ends. And those attempts are balanced out.
The Bengals won't have Chase in this game, and that's huge. But with the Steelers' recent struggles against tight ends and running backs – they've allowed six touchdowns receptions to those two positions in their past four games – slowing those ancillary weapons will be big in this one.
• Teams can make plans for injuries. They can build depth across the board.
What you can't do is prepare yourself for attrition at a certain position.
When the Steelers line up to face the Bengals Saturday, they'll be without the top three safeties with which they broke training camp in August, as Minkah Fitzpatrick, Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal are out either via injury, or in the case of Kazee, suspension.
Add to that the injuries at inside linebacker, where Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander have been missing, as well, and you're missing a lot of veteran leadership right up the middle of the defense.
The Steelers did an admirable job of building their depth during the offseason, adding veteran players across the board at nearly every position.
But what you can't account for is being crushed by injuries all at one or two spots. And that's what's happened with this defense.
• With the Steelers now at 7-7, many are wondering if this is the season head coach Mike Tomlin has a losing record, breaking the franchise's track record of failing to finish at .500 or better that stretches back to 2003.
That's a long time to go without posting a losing record. In fact, it's the third-longest stretch in NFL history. And if the Steelers can avoid that this season, they'll be tied with the Patriots of 2001 through 2019 for the second-longest such streak.
Dallas holds the record, having gone 20 consecutive seasons without a losing record from 1966 through 1985.
Some scoff at such a streak. But let's put the whole thing into perspective.
In that period, the Steelers won two Super Bowls, advanced to another, and lost in the AFC Championship twice.
New England's streak included six Super Bowl titles, three Super Bowl losses and four losses in the conference championship, an incredible run to be sure.
Dallas, meanwhile, won two Super Bowls, lost three and lost in the conference championship conference championship an astounding seven times during its 20-year run.
San Francisco owns the fourth-longest streak with non-losing seasons at 16, going from 1983 through 1998 without posting one.
In that time, the 49ers won four Super Bowls without losing one, but did lose in the conference championship five times.
The fifth-longest streak belongs to the Raiders, who went 15 seasons from 1965 through 1980 without a losing season. The Raiders won two Super Bowls, lost one and lost seven conference championship games.
The difference between some of those older records and the more current ones is that back in the 1960s, '70s, '80s and even into the '90s, is that those teams had some built-in advantages working in their favor.
•Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast
There was no free agency with which to deal. So players stayed on the same team year after year – unless the team decided to part ways with them.
And there were fewer teams in the league, meaning the good teams didn't see their talent pool diluted.
They also played fewer playoff games. The Patriots, for example, never advanced to an AFC Championship without needing to win just one home game to do so.
The bottom line is that if the Steelers' streak does happen to come to an end – and we're not there yet – appreciate it for what it is and what it brought to the franchise.
