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The Real JuJu

Discussion in 'Steelers Talk' started by Blast Furnace, May 1, 2020.

  1. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    People can do all the mental gymnastics they want and turn themselves into a pretzel to cast JuJu in a poor light but no receiver was going to ball and put up big numbers on this team last year. Spare me the great receivers perform with anyone throwing them the ball. Please do point out any other player that excelled with a 2nd and 3rd string QB throwing them the ball, neither of which had spent any time on an NFL field before.

    We’ll see the real JuJu this year, the guy who put up these numbers:

    Steelers franchise leader, receiving yards for a rookie (917)
    First player in NFL history to score five touchdowns before turning 21
    Youngest player to 1,000 receiving yards
    Youngest player to record game with 150 receiving yards
    First player to score on two offensive plays of 97 yards or more
    Youngest player in NFL history to reach both 1,500 and 2,500 receiving yards
    Longest receiving touchdown in Steelers history (97 yards)
    Youngest Steeler to record 1,000 yard-plus in a season (2018)
    Fewest games needed to reach 1,500 career receiving yards (21 games)

    The hate this kid receives on social media is ridiculous, all a bunch of blowhards like Madden. I look forward to them eating crow.
     
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  2. AskQuestionsLater

    AskQuestionsLater Writing Team

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    :hi:



    Fair enough my good sir! I do agree to an extent that no other Wide Receiver could have put up with what Juju did last season. I understand you said to spare you of those that could but in all honesty, DeAndre Hopkins is the only Receiver that pops up in my mind that could given the fact that he has already shown to be a dominant Receiver even before the inclusion of Deshaun Watson.



    However, I do agree with you wholeheartedly that Juju is primed for a bounce back season. Big Ben returning alone would not be enough in my opinion. Chase Claypool is going to open this Offense up in ways people have not seen in a long time.



    With Chase being a "Thermonuclear Launch Code" and Diontae slicing and dicing underneath, Juju will have more one on ones this seasons that I would imagine even he did not think possible. Adding Ben into the equation makes Juju likely Pro Bowl bound this time around. :)
     
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  3. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    I think people underscore how terrible the QB play was. I don’t think Hopkins ever had QBs who never threw an NFL pass before. Let alone one of them being a 3rd string QB that was only a 3rd string because they traded away the other one and had to pick Hodges back up.
     
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  4. SteelersFanIrl

    SteelersFanIrl Well-Known Member

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    Added to the bad QB play Juju was clearly playing hurt and visibly struggling in some games. He will be back!
     
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  5. jeh1856

    jeh1856 Beer is good

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    We need some good JuJu
     
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  6. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    I agree, bad QB play is only part of the equation. He was uncharacteristically sloppy, letting passes go through his hands, his routes didn’t seem as crisp, he just seemed off. I think he was probably playing on that bad toe all year. Maybe he had turf toe.

    Whatever the reasons, bad qb play, injury or just plain sucked last year, I expect him to come back with a vengeance this season.
     
  7. Roonatic

    Roonatic Well-Known Member

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    Chances are that he will be Ben's favorite target. Can the Steelers pay him with Dupree's $16mil? I have his jersey so make it happen Colbert. I'm excited to see how much Ben likes Ebron also.
     
  8. AskQuestionsLater

    AskQuestionsLater Writing Team

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    Perhaps.


    However, Tom Savage, Brian Hoyer and Brock Osweiler do not have a ceiling comparable to Mason Rudolph despite them having thrown a pass. Devlin Hodges though I will concede as I believe that his time in the league is likely going to come to an end. For Hopkins to do that is still something that should be noted.
     
  9. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    They all have NFL experience, there is a lot to be said about that. You are way higher on Mason than I am, my expectations of him plummeted.

    There is no way Hopkins puts up 1300 yards with Mason and Hodges throwing him the ball in their first season. He would have put up more than JuJu because he is a better wide receiver, one of the best but I don’t think he even hits 1,000 with those guys throwing to him.

    We’ll have to agree to disagree about how other top receivers would perform with the reindeer and duck throwing passes to them.
     
  10. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    I was as tough on him as anybody, but I never posted that he's going to suck forever. His numbers were always going to drop last season. He no longer had an elite receiver on the other side taking attention away from him. On top of that, he did not play well. He had too many key drops. He had a disastrous fumble that handed the Ravens the game in Pittsburgh. He just disappeared far too often.

    Does terrible quarterback play explain why not just one,but two other receivers on the team put up better numbers?

    I do hope we see a return of the player Smith-Schuster was in 2018. I doubt that will result in the same numbers, but he can certainly get back to being a very good receiver.
     
  11. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    Well, he only played in 12 games but QB play was only one of the reasons. No AB certainly played a roll as you mentioned, his first year with the added attention as a number 1 and inferior QB play wasn’t a good combination for success.

    As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, he was sloppy last season so he deserves some of the blame but I don’t think his play was reflective of the type of receiver he really is and should prove that this year.
     
  12. FootballAnalyst98

    FootballAnalyst98 Well-Known Member

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    Tom savage
     
  13. FootballAnalyst98

    FootballAnalyst98 Well-Known Member

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    If James Washington got 730 yards then hopkins could have easily got 1000. He would only have to get like 65 yards a game to get that. Hopkins could easily do that
     
  14. Steel_Elvis

    Steel_Elvis Staff Member Mod Team

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    In 2015 Hopkins put up 111 receptions for 1,521 yards and 11 TDs. He had Hoyer for 9 games, and a combination of Ryan Maillett, TJ Yates and Brandon Weeden for the other 7 games. That’s pretty damn impressive to me.
     
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  15. AskQuestionsLater

    AskQuestionsLater Writing Team

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    As I said, I only see DeAndre being able to obtain solid production. As for others, I have already agreed with you on that. No debate here. :drinks:
     
  16. mytake

    mytake Well-Known Member

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    Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt, and Isaac Bruce. Kurt Warner had one NFL appearance in 1998, before exploding on the scene as a 28 year old, ex-Arena Football player in 1999.
     
  17. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    Kurt Warner was a Hall of Fame quarterback. Nobody is going to mistake Rudolph or Hodges for Warner.
     
  18. WinTheNorth

    WinTheNorth Well-Known Member

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    Also, isn't he UFA next year? If it's gonna have a bounce back year, this would be the year for him to do it! IMO he had a huge amount of help from AB but still, i think the kid has skills... maybe questionable as a #1 but with the return of Ben and some strong peers (for all Washington's previous work with Rudolf, i didn't really see the connection... if there was a time for washing to shine.. that would have been the time!)
     
  19. mytake

    mytake Well-Known Member

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    All I was saying there has been a QB that was 2nd string and delivered the goods. Kurt Warner is possibly never heard of if Trent Green isn't injured in preseason. Green had been 28-32 in preseason before his injury. Tom Brady is another example, taking over for the injured Bledsoe. Sometimes teams don't know what they have, until an injury happens.
     
  20. Steel_Elvis

    Steel_Elvis Staff Member Mod Team

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    I think we figured out that we don’t have the next Warner or Brady waiting in the wings behind Ben.
     
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  21. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    Keep reaching guys, not a single QB named is comparable to how raw Rudolph and Hodges were last year and just stop with Warner :lolol:

    I’d take Hoyer any day over what we had last year. Hopkins didn’t do too much with the other guys throwing to him but they still all had more experience under their belt.
     
  22. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    He had playing time under his belt and Hopkins never balled out with him anyway. They never even played many games together.

    He didn’t reach 1,000 yards with Brock and Savage throwing him the ball.
     
  23. STEELWINDS

    STEELWINDS

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    Hey Roonatic.

    This Offense is going to be very, very good IMO. However, there is one big IF and that is IF we have Ben or a comparable QB, then we will be okay. My choice is Dalton as most know on this Board. However, put Andy to the side for a second and let us stick with Ben. With Ben we are now a complete "O". We have a very young and diverse skill-set group of RBs with Whyte actually being my favorite. Speed baby!. The same for the WRs; young but very, very talented. All bring something very different to the table. Now with the addition of Claypool, oh yeah! A very nice blend indeed. The TEs are going to be great Vance the Vanimal and Ebron, who just needs a better QB and overall new environment to play in and I say watch out for this "Dynamic Duo". The O-line gets a pass from me for last year and will return to form IMO.

    Yes, I am excited about this team IF Ben returns. The Defense is off the charts. We are set there. My only hope is that Edmunds gets it together. I am pulling for this young man. My only other wish, as many know here, is the acquisition of a true middle clogging Nose Tackle in the form of Casey 2.0. I am not going to go into all my reasons why again. IMO it would be a huge difference maker. Hargrave was good and I appreciate what he did here. However, he was just outplayed at times because he was out of position. Just not stout enough to hold it down every game. He is more suited as a DE in a 4-3 defense.

    So, in wrapping it up, once again IF Ben is good to go, We are good to go! Take care my friend!


    STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid
     
  24. Steel_Elvis

    Steel_Elvis Staff Member Mod Team

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    I am getting a sense of deja vu with this conversation. Didn’t this same discussion happen last season? I like JuJu, and I don’t think last season was indicative of how good he is as a receiver, but implying that DeAndre Hopkins isn’t materially better than JuJu is not a winning argument.

    One other thing on Hopkins in 2015. You know what other receivers he had opposite him? An end-of-career Nate Washington, Cecil Shorts and Jalen Strong. In other words, he was the whole show at WR for those 4 different QBs to throw to, and he still dominated. I like JuJu, but Hopkins is on a completely different level.
     
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  25. Rollers

    Rollers Well-Known Member

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    yanno the thing that bothers me is we still have the same offensive coordinator as we had last year. In my mind he's the limiting factor in how good our offense will be. I think he is one of the worst OC in the league. Ben will make a difference but as long as we have this guy as OC I am worried
     

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