Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt are worth every penny for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
With just over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter — and minutes after Acrisure Stadium played “Renegade” — fourth-year outside linebacker Alex Highsmith beat Cleveland left tackle Jedrick Wills quickly and raced around left end to strip Cleveland quarterback Deshaun Watson. T.J. Watt scooped up the fumble and rumbled home 18 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, giving Pittsburgh a 26-22 lead with 6:58 to go in the fourth quarter.
It was the second defensive touchdown of the night for the Steelers as Highsmith returned an interception for a touchdown on the first play of the game.
A memorable night overall for Highsmith and especially Watt, who broke the Steelers’ all-time sacks record late in the first half.
Watt’s fumble return for the score was the first of his career in the regular season. He did have one in the 2021 Wild Card loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Watt’s score also marked the second time in franchise history that the Steelers had two defensive touchdowns in the same game.
The last time the Steelers did it, according to Steelers communications manager Michael Bertsch, occurred in Week 14 of the 2010 season in which outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley had a 14-yard interception return and safety Troy Polamalu had a 45-yard interception return for touchdown.
