The Week 11 showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens will center around these AFC North rivals jockeying for position atop the division standings. That said, Diontae Johnson squaring off against his former team is one of the more intriguing side-stories of this head-to-head bout.
The wideout, who spent the first five years of his NFL career with the Steelers, was traded by the franchise this offseason to the Carolina Panthers. Since then, Johnson was dealt to the Ravens leading up to the deadline, setting the stage for him to strike a bit of revenge against his old club. And now he may have some bulletin board material to fuel him even more for this matchup.
On Tuesday, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about facing his ex-player and pretty much dismissed the significance. He even added that other players within Baltimore’s offense are taking up more of his time preparing for them.
“To be honest with you, I hadn’t thought a lot about it,” Tomlin said of Johnson, via ESPN. “He’s not on a lot of their video, and so at this stage of the week, I don’t know that I’ve weighed what he might mean to the matchup. They got more significant pieces with larger roles that are occupying my attention at this part of the week.”
Tomlin is correct that Johnson hasn’t been a main fixture within the Ravens offense thus far. The 28-year-old played 17 snaps in his debut against the Denver Broncos in Week 9 and did not record a catch. Then, he played just five snaps and caught one pass for 6 yards against Cincinnati last week.
However, Ravens coach John Harbaugh did say on Monday that Johnson will likely get an increased workload going forward now that he’s getting up to speed with their offense. While Tomlin’s comments were factual, they can — and likely will — be used by Johnson to juice him up even more for this contest.