The Pittsburgh Steelers will be without one of their top defensive linemen for Monday’s game against the Cleveland Browns—and for a number of games after as well—with Cameron Heyward sidelined and primed for surgery to address a groin injury.
Cleveland will be shorthanded as well with RT Jack Conklin lost for the season. The team has already decided that it will be moving forward with rookie fourth-round pick Dawand Jones as the starter there—just in time for OLB T.J. Watt. Head coach Kevin Stefanski was asked about that yesterday.
“Dawand has been constantly working with Coach [Bill] Callahan, Coach [Scott] Peters, Coach [Jonathan] Decoster to get ready. There are no redshirts in the NFL”, he said, via the team’s website, commenting on the decision to go with the rookie over veteran James Hudson.
“As it pertains to any matchup moving forward, it’s the NFL, every week is going to be very difficult”, he added. “Obviously, going into Pittsburgh is tough on every team that goes into that place. We’ll have a plan, and we’ll move forward”.
Of course, every team rolls into Pittsburgh with a plan to limit Watt. It rarely works out very well, as the San Francisco 49ers found out last Sunday. Granted, the Steelers got shellacked in the game, but Watt individually was dominant, notching three sacks against a new starting right tackle.
Now he has another inexperienced right tackle, and he has 15 career sacks against the Browns since coming into the league—in just 10 games. This feels like a historic moment. With a little luck, he can break three team records on the day, though not simultaneously.
As it stands, he is tied with James Harrison for the most sacks in franchise history at 80.5. Any contribution will set the new mark there. His 15 sacks against the Browns are also one behind Harrison’s 16 against the Baltimore Ravens for the most sacks against an individual opponent. Two sacks—or a sack and a half—breaks that record. And he could also break Harrison’s record for the most three-plus-sack games in team history. He just tied the mark last week with his sixth.
Jones stands between him and making three degrees of team history, even if, granted, few will care about most if not all of them. That Watt would break the team’s all-time sack record had been accepted as a given at least a couple years ago. He just happens to be on the precipice now. With a rookie guarding the gate.
“I think some really good moments, some things that he’s got to clean up”, is how Stefanski assessed Jones’ debut on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. “When you get thrown into the mix early, there’s going to be some time to catch up. I thought he had some good moments, some things that we will work real hard to clean up”.
