The Pittsburgh Steelers won 24-17 against the Los Angeles Rams. Most of the game followed the Steelers’ weekly game script. The defense held up its end of the bargain allowing just 17 points, though K Brett Maher missed two field goals and an extra point.
One of the big turning points in this game was T.J. Watt undercutting a route to intercept a pass on the first play of the second half opening drive. Watt didn’t light up the stat sheet the way he is known to with just one tackle, but he certainly changed the game with that interception. The Steelers were down 9-3 and the interception, which was returned inside the 10-yard line, led to a touchdown that gave the Steelers the lead.
Head Coach Mike Tomlin was asked in the postgame press conference about an unusual wrinkle in the Steelers’ defense.
“They were allocating a lot of attention toward T.J.’s normal home position and I just hate those guys minimizing a significant player,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube channel when asked about Watt flipping sides more than usual. “So we got that going a bit.”
Watt spends the majority of his time rushing from the left side of the defense against opposing teams’ right tackles. He started off his career on the other side, but made the switch with Bud Dupree back in 2018, which has helped propel him to multiple top-tier seasons including his Defensive-Player-of-the-Year campaign in 2021. He has mentioned several times that he feels more natural on the left side of the defense. During an appearance on Footbahlin’ with Ben Roetlisberger, Watt mentioned how it’s like “writing with your left hand” rushing from the opposite side.
This is not the first time the Steelers have experimented with moving Watt to the other side since the 2018 switch. In 2019, the Steelers flipped Dupree and Watt for a handful of plays against the Cleveland Browns. It wasn’t something they did a ton of after that point, so it seems to be a matchup-driven decision that Tomlin and the defensive staff make on a case-by-case basis.
Watt was also asked about this in his postgame availability.
“Trying to find a one-on-one anywhere we can get it,” Watt said via the team’s website. “Unfortunately, I didn’t really get… probably two or three today total. A lot of chips, but other guys stepped up in those moments and I’m happy that we were able to get the job done and get a win today.”
The Steelers have a great stable of pass rushers. Beyond Watt and Alex Highsmith, they have Markus Golden and Nick Herbig, the latter of whom just recorded his first career sack. It would be nice to see more creativity with flipping and rotating those players, but don’t expect any large changes moving forward. Watt will still be primarily lining up on the left side of the defense.
