When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense, most of the attention falls on EDGE T.J. Watt. Rightfully so. He’s on a Hall-of-Fame track for a reason. But Watt isn’t the only pass rush threat for opposing offenses to worry about. Over the last two seasons, Alex Highsmith has emerged as a top threat opposite Watt, breaking out in 2022 while making critical plays in 2023.
Appearing on the Mason & Ireland Show Wednesday, Los Angeles Rams’ head coach Sean McVay called Highsmith one of the most underrated players in the league, pivoting to him when asked about how the Rams plan to stop Watt.
“I’ll tell you what, I think Alex Highsmith I think is one of the more underrated players in the league that’s a nightmare on the other side,” McVay told the show.
It’s a perspective increasingly common around the NFL. Hear other coaches and players talk and the conversation isn’t just exclusive to Watt, even though he’s in the midst of a season where he could challenge the NFL sack record that he already co-owns. Highsmith is now being added into the mix. It stems from his 14.5 sack campaign a year ago, doing the heavy lifting while Watt missed the first half of the season with a partially torn pectoral muscle. Those 14.5 sacks were sixth-most in the league and somehow, Watt was elected to the Pro Bowl over Highsmith.
Through the first five games of this season, Highsmith *only* has two sacks but both have been critical plays. Each has come in the fourth quarter, and both have been strip/sacks recovered by Watt to help beat the Cleveland Browns in Week Two and the Baltimore Ravens in Week Five.
Of course, Watt is having another amazing year, still tied for the NFL lead with eight sacks despite having an early Week Six bye. Through 92 games of his career, he has 85.5 sacks. The only player with more sacks over that span of a career is the great Reggie White. In fact, Watt is third all-time for a player’s first 100 games, trailing only White and big brother J.J. Watt. Only two behind J.J., Watt should pass him by his 100th game later this season.
For McVay’s money, it doesn’t get better than those two.
“[Watt] and Highsmith are as good a pair as it gets in the league.,” he said.
Rams QB Matthew Stafford isn’t as mobile as he once was and has been sacked 16 times this season, including seven times over his last two games. The Steelers’ method of winning has been creating splash with sacks and takeaways. They’ll need both to upend the Rams this weekend.
