Diontae Johnson opens up on ‘passionate’ Mitch Trubisky confrontation that led to QB benching

No hard feelings in Pittsburgh?

Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson on Wednesday addressed the report that he got into a heated locker room dispute with quarterback Mitch Trubisky at halftime of the team’s game against the Jets, leading the quarterback to get benched in favor of rookie Kenny Pickett.

“We’re both passionate about the game. Stuff happens during football,” Johnson told reporters. “We’re fine, we talked about it. We made up, better over the whole situation. No hard feelings towards each other. That’s still my guy at the end of the day.”

According to the original report published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Johnson started yelling at Trubisky to throw him the ball more during halftime of the Oct. 2 loss to the Jets, “even though Johnson had a pass skip off his hands that resulted in an interception and failed to get his feet in bounds on what would have been a 23-yard touchdown in the first half.” Trubisky stood up to Johnson and an exchange ensued, which led to coach Mike Tomlin choosing to go to Pickett in the second half.

The Steelers ended up losing that game, 24-20. Pickett only had three incompletions in the second half, but all three were interceptions.

Pickett was named as the starter after that game, but left the Steelers’ Week 6 game against the Buccaneers after entering the concussion protocol. Trubisky then entered the game and led Pittsburgh to a shocking upset win over Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, completing 9-of-12 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown.

Pickett is still expected to start when healthy, but Johnson reaffirmed that if Trubisky does have to start again, he will support his teammate.

“I’m gonna still keep playing for him, cheering for him,” Johnson said. “Whatever it is that he needs me to do to help him look good out there, I’mma do it. Like I said, there’s no bad blood between us at all. It’s just us being football players at times and we’re not gonna let that stop us from achieving the goal that everybody is trying to achieve around here.”