JuJu Smith-Schuster stood watching his teammates practice Friday, holding a play card and hoping beyond hope he would get a chance to line up and play Sunday when the Steelers hosted the Patriots.
Smith-Schuster had already been forced by the NFL to sit out the previous week's win over the Ravens for a block he had made against the Bengals that resulted in Vontaze Burfict being concussed. He wasn't going to let a sore hamstring, which cropped up Thursday, hold him back.
Trouble is, Mike Tomlin has traditionally not played rookies who don't at least go through a full practice on the Friday before a game. But, as he has showed throughout his first season, Smith-Schuster isn't just any rookie.
JuJu not only played, he became the focal point of the Steelers' passing attack once Antonio Brown was lost to a calf injury early in the second quarter, catching six passes for 114 yards, including a 69-yard catch-and-run that would have needed a nickname -- in the vein of the Immaculate Reception -- had it won the Steelers the game.
As it was, however, the Steelers (11-3) lost, 27-24, and Smith-Schuster's big game will be a footnote in a win by New England (11-3) that gave the Patriots the edge in the race for home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
"I thought it was awesome," said Roethlisberger of how the rest of the offense stepped up without Brown on the field. "I thought a lot of guys did some good things. But that's what we expect. How awesome at the end with JuJu, too? He gave us a chance down there."
A chance but not enough.
Smith-Schuster wasn't the primary receiver on his 69-yard play.
"I was the checkdown," he said. "I just ran across the field and broke open and it went down."
Smith-Schuster started on the right side of the formation, ran across the field, caught the ball, ran up the left sideline and then cut back across the field to the right side where he started as he picked up blocks -- including one 30 yards downfield from Le'Veon Bell -- before finally getting tackled at the 10.
It was just another day for a player who has quickly endeared himself as everyone's little brother in the locker room. Smith-Schuster, who turned 21 last month, is the youngest player in the NFL.
"If we win that game, you know that’s going to be shown - it will be a heroic figure between Jesse James and JuJu," said David DeCastro. "But that’s life. That’s football."
SHAZIER IN THE HOUSE
Injured linebacker Ryan Shazier was snuck into the stadium from his hospital bed to attend this game, sitting in a box with his family.
And then, this happened in the first quarter.
.@RyanShazier is here.
And this is what happened.#SHALIEVE pic.twitter.com/qnLvw7Foya
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) December 17, 2017
Shazier, who had spinal stabilization surgery just a week and a half ago after being injured in a win at Cincinnati Dec. 4, was at the game unbeknownst to many of his teammates.
"I got whispers that he might be there," said Cam Heyward. "When you see a guy like that on the jumbotron, a lot of emotions went through. I kept thinking, dang, I wish he was out here. I know he wishes he could be out there. We wanted to play hard for him. I thought a lot of guys did. We didn't get that W for him. He knew we played hard, as well."
CONNER OUT
Rookie running back James Conner got three carries in the game, gaining 13 yards as he spelled Bell quite a bit in the second half as the Steelers went to a run-heavy offense.
Bell finished with 24 carries for 117 yards and the Steelers rushed for 143. But Conner left the game in the fourth quarter following a run with what Tomlin called a sprained MCL as part of his brief postgame press conference:
DEFENSIVE ADJUSTMENTS
After allowing more than 100 yards rushing in each of their previous two games -- wins over Cincinnati and Baltimore -- the Steelers came in intent not to allow New England to get its running game going, particularly against its nickel defense.
The adjustment included keeping nose tackle Javon Hargrave on the field on passing downs and replacing outside linebacker Bud Dupree with corner Mike Hilton. The Steelers did that throughout the first half until adjusting later and mixing it up again, sometimes taking Hargrave off for Hilton, others making the move with Dupree.
"Definitely something that caught them off guard," said defensive end Stephon Tuitt. "It kept them from doing what they wanted to do."
New England finished the game with 77 yards rushing on 19 attempts, but the running game never truly hurt the Steelers.
The Patriots did, however, win the game.
"Kudos to them for winning it," said Tuitt. "We’ve got to keep fighting to the end."
DATA, MILESTONES, NOTES
• Brown became the first player in NFL history with at least 100 catches in five consecutive seasons on his first reception. He had three when he was hurt.
• Heyward's sack was his 10th of the season, making him the first defensive lineman for the Steelers to reach double-digits since Keith Willis had 12 in 1986, as well as the first player at any position to do so since James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley both did it in 2010.
• Two winning streaks ended for the Steelers, their eight-game overall streak that was twice as long as any NFL team's entering the weekend, and their nine-game home winning streak in December games that began Dec. 15, 2013 vs. Cincinnati.
• The attendance of 68,574 -- and the Steelers go by actual turnstile count -- was the largest ever at Heinz Field or in franchise history. The previous high was 67,737 against the Cowboys on Nov. 13, 2016.
• Tomlin fell to 2-6 in regular-season games vs. New England, 1-3 at home.
• Ben Roethlisberger's 4,025 passing yards on the season pushed him through the 4,000 milestone for the fifth time in his career.
• Vince Williams' interception was the first of his NFL career.
• The Steelers won't practice or have any media availability Monday.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
[caption id="attachment_507761" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]
Steelers vs. Patriots, Heinz Field, Dec. 17, 2017 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
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