On Friday, Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey cribbed Lloyd Bentsen's famous 'Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy' line when comparing JuJu Smith-Schuster to former Steelers receiver Antonio Brown.
"No disrespect to him, he's not Antonio Brown," Ramsey said before Sunday's game. "I matched up with Antonio there for two years, and that was a good battle, and I held my own in those battles, and yeah, now I'm going up against a different person, different body type, different receiver a little bit. He can make plays."
"He's right, though," Smith-Schuster said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. "I'm not Antonio Brown. I'll never be Antonio Brown. I am myself. I'm JuJu Smith-Schuster. I'm not as good as him yet. I think I still have time to proceed to get to his level. But we're two totally different persons."
The Steelers young wideout has had gone through growing pains this season, in part due to struggling QB play and in part because he's getting far more attention from defenses than when Brown was in town.
On Sunday, the Rams threw Ramsey at JuJu at times, and at others doubled him with bracket coverage. The third-year pro was held to three catches and 44 yards on six targets. It was the fourth time in nine games Smith-Schuster has posted fewer than 50 yards, including back-to-back weeks.
During Sunday's tilt, the wideout got an earful from the talkative Rams corner.
"He talks a lot," Smith-Schuster said of Ramsey. "He talks so much. He said so many cuss words I've never heard of, and I'm 22 years old. He's a good player, man.
"It's a lot different than him being in Jacksonville, where he's able to do whatever he wants. Over here, he has to pretty much do what he's told. He has to listen to [Eric] Weddle. It's different. It's a great experience. I wish we had more balls thrown at us, but it's hard when you're double-teamed."
As Brown's presence aided Smith-Schuster's rise, the attention paid to JuJu on Sunday helped open windows for James Washington (6/90/1) and Diontae Johnson (4/64).
"He knows that he's going to attract that attention, flies, going into the game," quarterback Mason Rudolph said. "We understand that someone else is going to step up. Diontae's been doing it all year for us. James has been coming along the last couple games and making some big-time conversion catches. I think it just allows us to have more threats at the receiver position and maybe not allow them to double JuJu going forward."
With the Steelers hopping into playoff position, the play of the offense will be placed further under the microscope as the intensity picks up in the last half of the season. Pittsburgh will need its No. 1 wideout to be more than a decoy down the stretch if the Steelers are to cling to that postseason bid.
