The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: What will T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith do as an encore to their two-touchdown showing last week?
It’s another Sunday, and at this time of year, that generally means more Steelers football. This time around, they kick off at night out west, hosted by the Las Vegas Raiders. They are coming off their first win of the season, one that was driven by the efforts of the defense, particularly the dynamic edge tandem of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith.
Each of them recorded at least one sack and scored a touchdown. Highsmith’s came off of a deflection for an interception. Watt’s was a fumble recovery forced by Highsmith on his sack, which he scooped up and ran in.
These are the sorts of moments the Steelers pay them to make, of course, and it’s looking like they are really going to need to cash in on that this year the way things are going. Watt and Highsmith are going to need to be able to impact every game and come up with the timely plays.
After registering nine sacks through the first two games with five takeaways as an entire defensive unit, the Steelers are now facing a Raiders team that hasn’t yet allowed a sack. They have turned the ball over four times, however, with three interceptions of QB Jimmy Garoppolo and one lost fumble by RB Zamir White (Garoppolo also fumbled, but it was recovered by the offense).
Between the two of them, Watt and Highsmith have forced three fumbles, of which two were recovered, so they’ve produced three takeaways between them, accounting for half of the defensive total. They also have five of the team’s nine sacks, more than half.
Interestingly enough, Garoppolo doesn’t even rank high among the quickest releases in the league. According to Pro Football Focus, he has the ninth-longest time to throw so far this year, with Browns QB Deshaun Watson fourth. Brock Purdy has the sixth-shortest time to throw.
