Pittsburgh Steelers OLB T.J. Watt has had an incredible start to the season so far, already recording six sacks and two forced fumbles in only three games. Tomorrow, he gets a chance to boost those numbers against a banged-up Houston Texans offensive line, and ESPN’s Steelers beat writer Brooke Pryor is predicting a huge game for Watt.
“Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt will tie his single-game career-high with four sacks,” wrote Pryor in an article that included bold predictions for each game. “Because Stroud excelled at getting the ball out quickly against the Jaguars’ blitz, the Texans didn’t surrender a sack a week ago — but gave up 11 in the previous two weeks. Watt had multiple sacks in two of three games this season, plus older brother J.J. Watt will be inducted into the Texans’ Ring of Honor this weekend. Count on a friendly yet fierce sibling rivalry to get a little extra juice.”
Watt will be going up against Texans RT George Fant who, although would be a backup if RT Tytus Howard was healthy, has played well this season. Fant has an overall PFF grade of 71.4 and a pass blocking of 74.4 which might make it slightly more difficult for Watt to record four sacks, but then again Watt consistently makes All-Pro tackles look silly.
So far this season, the Texans have allowed 11 sacks and an average of 3.67 per game. Their offensive line looked good against the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, but tomorrow will bring a different beast as Watt and OLB Alex Highsmith are two of the best pass rushers in the NFL. Given the weakness of the Texans’ offensive line, a prediction of four sacks for Watt is certainly possible, especially since he is working against a backup and an offensive line in general that is banged up.
If Watt does record four sacks it would tie his single-game record, which he set against the Cleveland Browns in Week 17 of the 2021 season, most remembered as QB Ben Roethlisberger’s last home game. Watt is such a dominant force it is almost a little surprising he only has one four-sack game despite how hard it is to even record one sack.
As Pryor mentioned, this game will have a little more meaning for Watt as his older brother, J.J. Watt is being honored before the game for his incredible career in Houston. T.J. Watt will want to honor his brother the best way he knows how, being a game wrecker.
For the Steelers, getting to Texans rookie QB C.J. Stroud will be important considering how well he has played this year. Stroud has already thrown for 906 yards and four touchdowns while having a completion percentage of 64.5 percent and has yet to throw an interception. He looks strong this season, but if there is one way to make a quarterback look bad it is by the pass rush causing havoc.
There will be a lot of motivation for T.J. Watt to have a big game tomorrow, and if he does it could be huge in helping the Steelers improve to 3-1.
