PITTSBURGH (AP) – The adjustment period was bumpy, filled with shaky hands, shoddy route running and Sammie Coates’ own admission that he wasn’t in the shape he needed to be to play in the NFL.
And if the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver is being honest, it’s not quite over even after the best day of his suddenly blossoming career.
Coates understands that his 139-yard performance in Sunday’s 31-13 win over the New York Jets showcased both his immense potential and just how far he still has to go. It’s why he’s choosing to focus on the handful of drops rather than his video game-like burst from two Jets defenders that propelled him to the end zone for the first time on a 72-yard catch-and-run that made it seem like he was controlled by a 12-year-old furiously mashing the “sprint” button on his controller.
“The touchdown is just part of the game,” Coates said. “When you make mistakes, you don’t care about the plays you make. You care about the ones you left on the field.”
There were a handful to choose from, including a slightly underthrown pass from Ben Roethlisberger near the New York goal line in the second quarter in which Coates adjusted perfectly, only to see the ball go right between his arms. Or maybe the flip in the second quarter that should have been the easiest 1-yard touchdown of Coates’ life and instead ended with him hanging his head in frustration when he failed to get the lob in.
It’s the kind of miscue that would have haunted Coates during his rookie year. Not anymore. When Roethlisberger approached Coates to give him a pep talk, he found Coates ready to beat him to the punch.
“He almost sought me out to come back to him and believe in him,” Roethlisberger said. “I said you don’t have to tell me that. I’m going to come back to you and believe in you and come back to you. It was good to see that growth.”
The kind the Steelers (4-1) desperately needed Coates to make over the summer with Martavis Bryant out for the season while serving a one-year suspension for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. All Coates has done over the first five weeks is average an NFL-best 22.1 yards per catch with at least one reception of 40-yards or more in each game, one short of the club-record streak Mike Wallace set in 2011.
Coates played the second half with stitches in between the index and middle fingers of his left hand.
The pain came later. Coates sported a splint on his left hand in the locker room and didn’t practice Wednesday, leaving his status for Sunday’s visit to Miami (1-4) uncertain. Whenever he’s available, he gives Pittsburgh a dimension that forces opponents to make an increasingly difficult decision on whether to double-team All-Pro Antonio Brown.
“With AB on the field, you know they got to watch him,” Coates said. “The defense, they got a lot to worry about with our offense. With the players we got around the ball, it’s hard to stop it.”
