Steelers WR Diontae Johnson apologized to his teammates after he completely gave up on a play

Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals wasn’t the best display for Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson. But he’s at least owning up to his mistake.

After Johnson dropped a would-be touchdown pass (on a play that wasn’t challenged), a visibly frustrated Johnson took the next play off as Jaylen Warren fumbled just a few yards away.

Recovered by DJ Turner #PITvsCIN | CBS pic.twitter.com/tNgkVZRLAe

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) November 26, 2023

The footage of the play was impossible to ignore as it was some of the worst effort you’ll see from any NFL player — and fans were right to criticize him for it. Johnson, though, was quick to apologize to his teammates for the costly mistake and promised that it wouldn’t happen again.

Diontae Johnson addressed his Steelers teammates on the infamous fumble/effort situation.

Says he still expects to start Sunday.

“I’m not perfect… It won’t happen again… It looked bad on film.” pic.twitter.com/dBISBjtvNi

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 29, 2023

According to Johnson, he didn’t realize that the play was still live or that Warren had fumbled close by. He said if he had to do the play over again, he would have recovered that fumble.