Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt will be looking to notch his second NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2023 after a 2022 season that included him missing seven games due a to pectoral injury. To secure that prestigious defensive award in 2023, Watt will obviously need to have a consistent performance this coming season and stay healthy. Ahead of the Steelers’ 2023 training camp getting underway, I thought it would be fun to look at 14 predicted different right tackles that Watt is likely to do battle against during the regular season.
In this series a of two-a-day posts, each will include two tackles that Watt is likely to face during the 2023 season. Next up in this series is a look at the second set of two right tackles that Watt will likely face in 2023: Morgan Moses of the Baltimore Ravens and Rob Havenstein of the Los Angeles Rams.
Morgan Moses, Baltimore Ravens – Week 5 & Week 18: The Ravens signed Moses to a three–year, $15 million contract last offseason and with that, the 32-year-old figures to remain their starter on the right side moving forward into 2023. Moses has played extensively since originally being selected in third round of the 2014 NFL Draft as he has 130 starts over the course of his nine seasons.
Last season, Moses gave up five sacks, two quarterback hits and 17 hurries, according to Pro Football Focus, and that includes the Ravens’ lone playoff game. In the two games that Moses and the Ravens played against the Steelers in 2022, Watt was credited with a total of two sacks, two hits and five hurries. The only other time that Moses faced Watt was in 2020. While Moses was not charged with a sack in that 2020 contest, Watt did register a sack against Washington.
Outlook: Morgan and Watt should be awfully familiar with each other’s game heading into the 2023 season and thus it sets up for two intriguing battles between the two veterans. Obviously, the second of those two meetings against the Ravens isn’t until Week 18 so we have a long time to wait before that contest rolls around. Watt is obviously the younger of the two players and while he did return from his pectoral injury last season to face Moses in those two games against the Ravens, he probably wasn’t where he wanted to be from a health standpoint.
All told, Moses figures to give Watt a run for his money in 2023.
Rob Havenstein, Los Angeles Rams – Week 7: The Steelers have a bye in Week 6 of the 2023 NFL season and following it they will travel out West to play the Rams. Awaiting Watt out West should be the veteran Havenstein, the team’s expected right tackle. Like Watt, Havenstein is also a Wisconsin product. Even so, he entered the NFL in 2015. As a second-round draft pick, he has since started 116 games for the Rams in his eight NFL seasons.
Last season, Havenstein gave up six sacks, nine quarterback hits and 26 hurries in 632 pass blocking opportunities. His PFF pass blocking grade of 68.6 ranked in the bottom quarter of the NFL when it comes to qualified number of snaps. Watt and Havenstein have faced off just once before in the NFL and that happened during the 2019 season. Watt was easily the better of the two players in that Week 10 contest in Pittsburgh.
Outlook: This Week 6 matchup seemingly sets up well for the Steelers outside linebacker. Havenstein, however, is a long tackle and his plethora of NFL experience, in addition to previously facing Watt before several years ago, certainly will have him properly prepped for this matchup. Watt has had some more-than-decent showings during his career following bye weeks, so I expect him to be able to have a nice overall showing against another Wisconsin product in Havenstein out West in Week 6.
Previous Posts In This Series:
Two-A-Day Series: Right Tackles Steelers OLB T.J. Watt Likely To Face In 2023 – McKivitz, Conklin
Two-A-Day Series: Right Tackles Steelers OLB T.J. Watt Likely To Face In 2023 – Eluemunor, Howard
