When you have to think about stars of the game from Pittsburgh’s Monday night win against the Cleveland Browns, it doesn’t take long to have OLBs T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith come up as two easy nominees. Watt and Highsmith were game changers in primetime, both scoring defensive touchdowns and making an impact all over the football field for a Pittsburgh’s defense that willed its way to victory against their AFC North foe.
Austin talked about his dynamic duo as outside linebacker with T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith both having great games to help propel Pittsburgh to victory on Monday Night Football. When asked about Highsmith’s development from last season and if having to play without Watt for seven games last year helped him grow as a player, Austin said that he fully expected Highsmith to have a breakout season in 2022 even before Watt got hurt Week One.
“Yeah, but I think Alex felt that last year,” Austin said to the media on Thursday per official transcript from the team. “Even last year before camp he was telling everybody he was going to get double digit sacks that year, and he did. He could see his growth and the kind of things he was doing and the path he was on. So, now that you have that, you have a guy that’s really confident, and he achieved that goal, and now he’s on to bigger and better goals. Pair him with T.J., that’s a really good combination of those guys playing together. Obviously, it helps us because, when you have two guys that can control the edge like that, that makes it hard for offenses.”
Austin had been a believer of an Alex Highsmith breakout season prior to 2022 getting underway, saying during the preseason that he though double-digit sacks was well within the cards for the third-year pass rusher. Highsmith had double-digit sacks as one of his top three goals heading into the season, and he easily surpassed that with 14.5 sacks and tying the league lead with five forced fumbles, helping him secure a lucrative contract extension to keep him in Pittsburgh through the 2027 season.
When you look back at the stats from last season, Highsmith notably played better with Watt in the lineup compared to without him. Highsmith posted 11 sacks in the games that Watt played in 2022 compared to just 3.5 sacks in the seven games that Watt missed with a pec injury. He tended to struggle winning consistently as the primary focus of opposing blocking schemes, having the presence of Watt really open things up as he couldn’t be chipped and double teamed as often as we was when Watt was out of the lineup.
Highsmith took his strong finish to the 2022 season and has lobbied that into a good start to 2023, winning AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors for his impressive showing against the Browns. With Watt on-pace to potentially break the single-season NFL sack record and Highsmith playing impactful football as well, Pittsburgh is sitting pretty with a pass rush duo that may be currently the league’s best.
