Patriots teammate defends JuJu Smith-Schuster after breakout game

PITTSBURGH — JuJu Smith-Schuster returned to Pittsburgh for the first time as a visitor Thursday night, but played like he was still at home.

The ex-Steeler caught four passes for a season-high 90 yards during the Patriots’ 21-18 upset in primetime. Smith-Schuster’s longest catch, a 37-yard deep ball, sparked the Pats on their first opening touchdown drive of the season. Smith-Schuster later burst through Pittsburgh’s secondary for gains of 28 and 17 yards to fuel the offense’s highest-scoring first half in almost two years.

Patriots tight end Mike Gesicki said he felt happy for his teammate playing well against his old team, and realized the significance of his first catch instantly on a few levels. As Smith-Schuster works through the worst statistical season of his career (170 receiving yards in 10 games entering Thursday), Gesicki also came to his defense.

“I feel like there’s been, for some reason, an outside, negative narrative about him, and it just couldn’t be further from the truth,” Gesicki told the Herald. “He’s a great teammate, a great player, and does everything that the team asks him to do and more. And it’s just — this game’s funny, man. You don’t know when it’s all going to pan out and when all those opportunities are going to present themselves. And tonight it did.

“(There’s) probably not too many people talking negatively about him today. And if there are, they don’t know much about football.”

Pats quarterback Bailey Zappe broke down Smith-Schuster’s first catch post-game, saying he read a particular defender and then trusted the veteran wideout to make a contested catch.

“It was one-on-one with JuJu on the corner. It was underthrown a little bit by me. He was able to go up there and make a 50-50 catch. He’s been able to do that throughout his whole career,” Zappe said. “To be able to throw it up there to him, see him go make that play, especially back where it all started for him, is awesome.

“For me as a quarterback, (it’s) just giving these guys chances to go make plays, and that’s what we did tonight.”

Smith-Schuster described his return as “cool” and “awesome,” while praising the Steelers as a great organization. He spent the first five seasons of his career in Pittsburgh, making one Pro Bowl before injuries spoiled the end of his tenure.

Smith-Schuster was one of three receivers available on the active roster, after injuries sidelined DeVante Parker, Demario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte. While the Patriots were expected to take a run-heavy approach in Pittsburgh, Smith-Schuster’s initial big play helped set the table for a different game and ultimately a different outcome.

“I think honestly that’s for us to spread the ball out and to open up the run game. As you see later in the game, it helped us out a lot. And vice versa,” Smith-Schuster said of the deep passing game. “Obviously these last couple weeks we’ve been heavy run, and for us to go in there and dot up some plays helped us out a lot.”