Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant hasn’t caught many passes recently, but he has caught an earful from Ben Roethlisberger.
Big Ben to WR Martavis Bryant: ‘At this time of year you have to toughen up.’ https://t.co/Ip1ueCw3ZZ pic.twitter.com/1mDl4Uswpd
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) January 5, 2016
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Bryant, a fourth-round draft choice in 2014, caught 14 touchdown passes in his first 17 games. He has just two catches for six yards in the last two games, however.
The 6’4″, 211-pounder could have saved the Steelers from their humiliating Week 16 defeat at Baltimore, but he couldn’t hang on to a catchable third-down pass on the Steelers’ final drive.
Bryant was targeted only three times in the Steelers’ last two games, including Sunday’s 28-12 win at Cleveland that ultimately put them in the playoffs. That suggests that Bryant had a difficult time getting open against a Browns secondary that also had to worry about Antonio Brown.
After being inactive for the first six games of his rookie season, Bryant burst onto the scene with six touchdowns in four games to help spark the Steelers’ rise from .500 to their first playoff berth in three years. He caught a career-high 10 passes this season as the Steelers overcame a 17-point deficit to beat the Broncos in Week 15 at Pittsburgh.
Without Bryant, the Steelers might have missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons. But Roethlisberger knows that they won’t win a playoff game if Bryant doesn’t regain his game-breaking form in the postseason.
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