Diontae Johnson: Big Ben's 400th Was Chemistry, Not Design
Pittsburgh Steelers wideout Diontae Johnson was on the receiving end of history on Sunday after catching a bomb down the left sideline for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers. The third-year receiver caught his quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger's 400th career regular season touchdown pass.
Johnson broke down the play for reporters, explaining that being on the same page with his quarterback was a big reason for the explosive play. Johnson said that his route on the free play was "an adjustment, somebody jump offside, just take off and try to get in the end zone."
After being asked if both he and Roethlisberger were on the same page, he replied, "Yeah, we're on the same page. We know what to do when stuff like that happens."
While Johnson's been on the receiving end of several big plays already this year for the Steelers offense, there have been times where both he and Roethlisberger haven't looked like they were on the same page. For an offense that's looked out of sync at times, it's refreshing for fans to hear that both players were working in unison on this play, which is something that they can build on moving forward.
Johnson became aware of the historical significance behind the touchdown shortly after the play ended.
"He [Roethlisberger] came up to me and asked for the ball. I thought he was joking," he smiled. "It was a big moment for him and for me as well. To go out there and catch his 400th touchdown is exciting."
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Johnson shrugged off a question about being Roethlisberger's favorite target, explaining that "everybody can make plays and he wouldn't single himself out as the favorite." But let's be honest, it doesn't take a genius to know how Roethlisberger feels about Diontae Johnson.
In the last 15 full games that the duo has played with one another, Roethlisberger has targeted Johnson 172 times. The league leader for the 2020 season was Stefon Diggs with just 166 targets.
Despite early-season struggles leading to mass criticism of his quarterback, Johnson's continued to stand behind the signal-caller.
"Yeah, he's going to have a couple bad throws or whatnot, but that's football," Johnson said. "The best of the best are going to do that regardless. Overall, I see past that because that's my quarterback, and I'm always going to be behind his back, no matter what. I'm still going to go out and make plays for him to make him look good."
If the Steelers are going to climb out of this 1-3 hole that they're currently residing in, the offense needs to be drastically better. More dynamic plays from this duo would certainly go a long way to turning the ship around on this season.
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