FanPost

Brown and JuJu 9 wins, 6 losses, and 1 tie

I keep seeing that AB showed his excellence in the hard fought loss to the Saints and that the last game of the season against the Bengals was a preview of what a Brown-less JuJu as #1 Steelers team would look like.

This is a very focused pull on stats for both AB and JuJu in the Steelers' tie and 6 losses during the past season:

AB JuJu
Rec Tgts Rec/Tgts % Yards Avg per rec Avg per Tgt TDs Rec Tgts Rec/Tgts % Yards Avg per rec Avg per Tgt TDs
Browns 9 16 56% 93 10.6 5.8 1 5 8 62% 119 23.8 14.8 0
Chiefs 9 17 52% 67 7.4 3.9 0 13 19 68% 121 9.3 6.3 1
Ravens 5 11 45% 62 12.4 5.6 1 4 11 36% 60 15 5.4 0
Broncos 9 13 69% 67 7.4 5.1 0 13 17 76% 189 14.5 11.1 1
Chargers 10 13 76% 154 15.4 11.8 1 6 9 66% 40 6.6 4.4 0
Raiders 5 7 71% 35 7 5 0 8 12 66% 130 16.2 10.8 2
Saints 14 19 73% 185 13.2 9.7 2 11 15 73% 115 10.4 7.6 0
Totals 61 96 63% 663 10.8 6.9 5 60 91 65% 774 12.9 8.5 4

Both had bad days at the office in the loss against the Ravens.

Another table to look at but this is for the wins (I still counted JuJu's Week 17 numbers for/against him even though AB did not play in the game):

AB JuJu
Rec Tgts Rec/Tgts % Yards Avg per rec Avg per Tgt TDs Rec Tgts Rec/Tgts % Yards Avg per rec Avg per Tgt TDs
Bengals DNP-CD 5 10 50% 37 7.4 3.7 1
Patriots 4 7 57% 49 12.3 7 1 4 10 40% 40 10 4 0
Jaguars 5 13 38% 117 23.4 9 1 8 10 80% 104 13 10.4 0
Panthers 6 6 100% 96 16 16 1 3 5 60% 90 30 18 1
Ravens 5 10 50% 42 8.4 4.2 1 7 9 77% 78 11.1 8.6 0
Browns 6 8 75% 74 12.3 9.2 2 4 6 66% 33 8.3 5.5 0
Bengals 5 6 83% 105 21 13.1 1 7 10 70% 111 15.9 11.1 0
Falcons 6 13 46% 101 16.8 7.7 2 4 4 100% 34 8.5 8.5 1
Bucs 6 9 66% 50 8.3 5.5 1 9 11 81% 116 12.9 10.5 0
Totals 43 72 59% 634 14.7 8.8 10 51 75 68% 643 12.6 8.5 3

Last table with season totals (again AB only has 15 games worth of stats due to DNP-CD vs Bengals in Week 17):

AB JuJu
Rec Tgts Rec/Tgts % Yards Avg per rec Avg per Tgt TDs Rec Tgts Rec/Tgts % Yards Avg per rec Avg per Tgt TDs
104 168 62% 1,297 12.4 7.5 15 111 166 67% 1,417 12.7 8.5 7

Do you see that in the wins AB was targeted 24 fewer times and had 18 fewer receptions in the wins? He had 14.7 yards per reception and 8.8 yards per target. His reception % holds right around 60% for basically both halves of the season but the yards per reception is up by 4 yards and his yards per target is up 1.9. He also doubled his TD amount even though his yardage dropped by about 30 yards. He had 2 games with 2 TDs amongst the wins.

In the losses AB had 2 monster receiving games as games with over 100 yards receiving but in the wins he had 3 games over 100 even though they didn't approach his biggest games. In the losses he was targeted 13.7 times per game but in the wins it was down to 9 times per game. In the losses he had 8.7 receptions per game, but in the wins he only had 5.3 per game.

JuJu has a drop of 16 targets in the wins but only had 9 fewer receptions. JuJu's numbers for yardage per catch and target are consistent overall in the losses/tie and the wins, which may be part of the reason why his teammates chose him as the MVP. JuJu saw a drop in his reception yardage of about 130 yards in the wins.

JuJu had 8 games over 100 yards receiving and AB had 5. JuJu had the highest yardage game 189 to 185 for AB. The Patriots game is the only game they both played in all season where they didn't combine for over 100 yards receiving. They had 5 games where they went over 200 yards combined and the Saints loss they added up to 300 yards between them.

Of the losses the Saints game is the only one when both AB and JuJu went over 100 yards receiving but there was only the loss to the Ravens when neither of them hit the century mark. But the wins had 6 games in which one of them broke 100 yards receiving. The Jags and the first Bengals game were the only wins that had both of them going over 100 in the same game. This may speak to who had the hot hand during the wins or taking what the defense was giving.

These overall numbers could also mean that when the game is tight AB becomes the high priority target even though he was extremely close to only catching 6 out of every 10 targets (62%) without reference to what coverage he was facing. JuJu is almost as close to catching 70% (67%) of the passes thrown his way and, as AB is to 60%, maybe that's due to just having to focus on beating his man. But if AB is doubled all the time then burning the defense by using your capable #2 makes logical sense rather than to keep throwing the ball to AB regardless of the closeness of the game.

It's probably extremely difficult to actually figure out if double teams are worth the 5% difference in catching balls thrown your way (in AB/JuJu comparison).

It's an outside chance that these numbers also identify, at least somewhat, how missing FGs can flip the script on a season with both WRs putting up excellent numbers or in having an incredible game that turns out to be a loss.

It's hard to say what the Bengals game previews for next season. Maybe all the drama being finished will lighten the load for the other players as it's been a ride of hilarity with Harrison, Bryant, Bell and now Brown and that will let other folks shine.

The obvious anecdotal response that AB gets double teamed "all the time" and JuJu won't have 1-1 coverage without AB but IF the ball is spread around and the offensive threats are used in a more variable way crunch time focus won't be on just one play maker and it may relieve some of that pressure.

Then again if JuJu/Washington/Free Agent signing/or Rookie can be comparable to the Ward/Randle El/Wallace/Holmes balance - things might not be anywhere near as bad as the Bengals game, except for the occasional clunker when the helmet on the field doesn't win the game.

It'll be a new season in a while and if AB isn't in Black and Gold my bet is that, short of injuries to key players, we will be okay even without his flash and splash.

If AB is wearing Black and Gold and could see that him and JuJu could be Batman and Robin and AB would be Batman for at least the rest of his contract then maybe he could get that ring wearing B&G. I don't know if he is looking to see anything but the reflection in his mirror though.

Also, if he dons the B&G, I'm dreaming, hoping and praying that we are all out of scripts and that the Heinz Pittsburgh Steeler Dinner Theater of the Performing Arts has its doors locked and windows shuttered.

For those that believe the Steelers will fall and look like the did in the Bengals game without AB, we'll just have to wait and see.

End Note: I'm not saying JuJu is better than AB! Just that the numbers are interesting.

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