JuJu in Need of Positive Mojo

[NorthCoast]

Come on Nation, give him a lift. This team wouldn't even be sniffing playoffs without his efforts this season:


https://thesportsdaily.com/2018/12/23/look-juju-smith-schuster-seen-crying-after-brutal-fumble-that-cost-steelers-playoff-berth/

Look: JuJu Smith-Schuster seen crying after brutal fumble that cost Steelers playoff berth


The Steelers saw their playoff hopes go up in flames late in Sunday’s game against the Saints, when JuJu Smith-Schuster coughed up a costly fumble to end the contest.

Smith-Schuster had just caught a pass to put the team in field-goal range, with roughly 30 seconds remaining, and the Steelers were in position to tie the game, if not possibly even win it.
But he flipped over onto a defender, and that’s when Sheldon Rankings stripped him of the football, which the Saints recovered to win the game.
t’s a tough moment for Smith-Schuster, and for the Steelers as well, as now, all of a sudden, the Ravens have taken the division lead in the AFC North. As for the Steelers, they’re now on the outside looking in, needing the Browns to beat the Ravens next Sunday, to possibly clinch a playoff berth.

https://twitter.com/BoucheH20/status/1077004275006562304/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwte rm%5E1077004275006562304&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthesportsdaily.com%2F2018%2F 12%2F23%2Flook-juju-smith-schuster-seen-crying-after-brutal-fumble-that-cost-steelers-playoff-berth%2F

[pittpete]

It shows he cares, i love it.
It will only make him more modest and resilient come next year

[SteelBucks]

JuJu played hurt and had a heck of a game. He’ll feel like crap for a few days but I don’t blame him at all. We’re lucky as hell to have him.

[Iron City Inc.]

He shouldn't feel bad. Boswell would have missed the kick anyway! Just a bit of Steel humor. Seriously Ben said it best, " he's going to be a great player.... he'll learn from this".

[Starlifter]

Juju has no reason to hang his head. The kid balled out all year. I doubt any fan is holding that fumble against him.

[Steel Maniac]

JuJu a stud. I hope he feels better soon and I don’t want him to feel responsible for that loss.

[Ernie]

Yea. Juju is about the last person I blame for yesterday's loss.

[RuthlessBurgher]

His teammates just gave him plenty of positive mojo...


Seelers vote JuJu Smith-Schuster, not Ben Roethlisberger, their MVP
By Charean Williams | Dec 27, 2018, 6:33 PM EST

Ben Roethlisberger was a league MVP candidate for part of the season, and he can become the first quarterback in team history to lead the league in passing.

Yet, Roethlisberger’s teammates didn’t think enough of him to vote him their team MVP.

Instead, the Steelers players elected receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster their MVP.

“Yeah, man, I didn’t think it would be me,” Smith-Schuster said, via Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “You would think with the numbers they put up it would be one of those guys.”

Smith-Schuster has had a great season, with 106 catches and 1,389 yards, but he’s not even the team’s best receiver. Antonio Brown, who has a league-best 15 touchdown receptions, won the award four of the past seven seasons.

The Steelers’ MVP this season, though, clearly is Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger leads the league with 4,852 yards and can become only the sixth quarterback in NFL history with 5,000 yards. He already has set team records with 33 touchdown passes and 421 completions.

Roethlisberger had the Steelers in position for a game-winning field goal Sunday if not for Smith-Schuster’s fumble, which now has Pittsburgh in need of help to keep its season going.

As Bouchette opined, it’s probably time for the Steelers to retire the award as “it probably spawns more discontent than anything.”

If Roethlisberger’s teammates had voted him MVP, we probably wouldn’t even have had a post about the award. It is that obvious who the Steelers real MVP is.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Jeremy Fowler
ESPN Staff Writer

Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is 22 years, 31 days old. With 106 receptions, he passes Larry Fitzgerald (22 years, 123 days old) as the youngest player to reach 100 catches in a single season in NFL history.

3d

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

His teammates just gave him plenty of positive mojo...

I think that he was voted team MVP mostly in response to the fumble. A nice gesture by his teammates to show him how much they believe in him after he felt that he was the one who let them down.

I love how the National Enquirer of football gossip framed it:
Yet, Roethlisberger’s teammates didn’t think enough of him to vote him their team MVP.

Making it seem as if it is a slap in the face to their QB rather than the show of support to their young receiver.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Team MVP snub may have sparked Antonio Brown’s ire

Posted by Mike Florio on January 3, 2019, 10:43 AM EST

So what prompted Steelers receiver Antonio Brown to go AWOL, only days after having his best game of the season? Some are pointing to the internal vote that resulted in not Brown but receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster being named the team’s MVP for 2018.

The team announced that Smith-Schuster won the award on Thursday. Not Brown, who was in the discussion for NFL MVP in 2017 — and who won his franchise-record fourth team MVP award last year.

If the players learned about it on Wednesday, the outcome would help explain why Brown was feeling disrespected and unappreciated on the practice field, where he reportedly threw a football at Ben Roethlisberger and stormed out.

Simms and I have been batting around that theory throughout the week on PFT Live, and Albert Breer of SI.com cites an unnamed source in support of the notion that the MVP vote sparked the eruption.

“He was unreal in New Orleans, we still lost, and the vote comes out and it’s JuJu,” the unnamed source told Breer. “So [Brown] shows up for work, he’s not voted MVP, he’s in a bad way, and that carried over into the walkthrough.”

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reports that Brown wanted to see whether the Steelers would thrive without him, and whether Smith-Schuster would perform at a high level without Brown on the field to draw attention away from the second-year player.

Thursday’s announcement, which came at a time when no one outside the organization knew about the latest Brown incident, sparked speculation that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would be miffed about the snub. But the player most upset by the outcome apparently was Brown.

Again, the players vote for the MVP award. At a time when much has been said regarding whether the players would welcome Brown back, it’s fair to ask whether Brown wants to return. That’s a critically important question; how it’s resolved will go a long way toward determining how the relationship between Brown and the Steelers unfolds in 2019.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/01/03/team-mvp-snub-may-have-sparked-antonio-browns-ire/

[Steel Maniac]

I think JuJu's MVP and also JuJu being featured down the line in the Saints game too.

[NorthCoast]

Now the teammates gotta make nicey with Brown.

[steeler_george]

I wonder what is JuJu's take on the AB ordeal...

From what I gather from JuJu he is legit star as a person and as a player. ( I thought the same about AB too..) Hopefully this does harm his psyche, but learns from this ordeal.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Thursday, Jan 03, 2019 11:01 AM

JuJu named Polynesian Player of the Year

Teresa Varley

Steelers.com


JuJu Smith-Schuster has been named the recipient of the 2018 Polynesian Pro Football Player of the Year Award, presented annually by the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame.


The Polynesian Pro Football Player of the Year Award recognizes the most outstanding professional football player of Polynesian ancestry. This is the second straight year that Smith-Schuster has won the award.


“Very consistent, very consistent,” said offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner of the second-year receiver. “He’s learned how to be a pro, and I think his teammates realize that about him, and he’s brought a lot of energy to our group.”


Smith-Schuster, who is of Samoan ancestry, finished the 2018 season with 111 receptions for 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns en route to being voted the team’s Most Valuable Player.


“He worked hard in the offseason,” said Darrius Heyward-Bey. “He knew there were going to be a lot of eyes on him this season and he rose to the occasion. He works hard. I knew from Day 1 this kid was going to be special. We are just at the beginning. The sky is going to be the limit.


“He cares about his craft. He wants to be the best. He wants to learn. He can humble himself to learn from anybody. He just wants to get better. If you have knowledge he is willing to take it in. That is rule number one of being a pro, being coachable.


“I don’t like to put a lot of pressure on him, but I see a lot of Anquin Boldin in him. I see a lot of Larry Fitzgerald in him. Two guys who know how to play football. He knows how to play football.”


The formal presentation of the award will be held during the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame Celebration Dinner along with being recognized at the Polynesian Bowl, to be held on January 19 in Oahu, Hawaii.


The Polynesian Pro Football Player of the Year Award was voted on by the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee composed of Coaches Dick Tomey (Chairman), Ron McBride and Dick Vermeil, former NFL players Olin Kreutz, Kevin Mawae, and Ray Schoenke, as well as others.


https://www.steelers.com/news/juju-named-polynesian-player-of-the-year