The Pittsburgh Steelers fell 37-30 to the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium yesterday, but the best play of the game might have been made by Pittsburgh’s defense, when outside linebacker T.J. Watt was able to pick off a Joe Burrow pass at the line of scrimmage while attempting to bat the pass and getting hit by the offensive lineman. On the latest episode of his Footbahlin’ podcast, former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said that he felt bad for Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow because he’d had Watt make the same sort of play against him in practice.
“T.J., the alien. The funny thing about that is I felt for Joe [Burrow], only because I’ve been there in practice. Like, he and I have played a cat and mouse game many times in practice,” Roethlisberger said. He added that it happens a lot in the seven shots drill the team runs. “We’re on the two yard-line, so he knows the ball is coming out quick. He’s batted them down, he’s intercepted them, and I’ve been able to get him a couple times where we’d have fun with each other where I’d kind of pump like this and throw around him or do something,” he added.
Roethlisberger said that as good as the play was, he believes that the offense’s inability to capitalize with a touchdown was probably demoralizing for the Pittsburgh defense.
“That’s demoralizing for a defense, we just did all this and now we don’t get points,” he said.
Pittsburgh’s offense was able to get points, but they went three-and-out and settled for a field goal to cut their deficit to one at 24-23. Cincinnati made a field goal on their next drive to take their lead back to four points, and they would eventually take a two-score lead before the Steelers were able to get on the board again in the second half, but by then it was too little, too late.
Across the board, the Steelers just weren’t good enough yesterday. But Watt had a good game, and that play, while not something to be expected for him to do every week, is something he’s already done twice this year (both times against the Bengals), although the first play, while still a high degree of difficulty, wasn’t quite as impressive as the one he made last night. Still, the point remains that Watt is a game-changer for this defense, and while they didn’t play their best game last night, he still tried to will them to victory with the interception, his two pass deflections, his six tackles and 0.5 sack.
It’s not fun watching the Steelers lose, but it’s fun watching T.J. Watt ball out on defense. Having him back makes the Steelers more fun to watch, and it makes this team a whole lot better. Let’s see if he can pick up where he left off next Monday night when the Steelers travel to Lucas Oil Stadium to take on the Colts on Monday Night Football.
