Individually, some of the best pass rushers in the game put up gaudy sack numbers year after year.
But to truly have an elite-level pass rush, there has to be a certain sense of feel and understanding of what teammates are doing around you while working together towards a common goal: keeping the quarterback in the pocket and holding onto the football long enough for the pass rush to get home.
Teams with great pass rushes have that. And T.J. Watt believes the Steelers are there, especially as he and fellow outside linebacker Alex Highsmith have gotten closer and played with each other long enough to understand non-verbal cues and knowing what the other wants to do in certain situations.
It’s not all just pin your ears back and rush. There’s an art to it. The Steelers seem to understand that art.
“That’s talking about the stuff where there’s just eye contact where we’re picking up on things out on the field where I can just tell him little cues or he can look at me and I know exactly what he’s thinking, like if he’s gonna go inside so I have to cover him around the edge and the backside. Just the whole front, we continue to grow,” Watt said to reporters Wednesday after reporting to training camp in Latrobe, according to video via Steelers.com. “I think [defensive line coach Karl] Dunbar has done such a good job, and [outside linebackers coach] Denzel Martin by just getting us all on the same page and that’s why it’s so important for the pass rush. We’re all in the same room and it’s been beneficial to us.”
Over the years it has been beneficial to the Steelers, who have boasted one of the game’s best pass-rush units in the game, leading the NFL in sacks five of the last six seasons.
No doubt, it helps having individually dominant pieces like Watt and Cameron Heyward along the defensive front to garner a ton of attention. Those guys can win individually as well, but when the entire pass rush works together, it makes it all the more difficult for opposing offenses and leads to splash plays from the Steelers.
The pass rush is all connected together, and that chemistry and overall understanding within the front plays a vital role.
With another year together and much of the defensive front returning for another season in the Black and Gold, that chemistry and general understanding of what guys are trying to do and how to work as a team should only get better in 2023. Assuming good health, the Steelers should be able to get back to being the league’s best pass rush once again.
Being together in the same room, having some great coaches and having some elite-level talent is a major advantage. But working together and sacrificing at times for the greater good makes them even better.
