In Sunday’s 24-17 win against the Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers OLB T.J. Watt switched from his usual left outside linebacker spot and moved over to the right side for three snaps, an unexpected twist given how Watt’s talked about the difficulty of switching sides in the past. But on the This Is Football podcast with Kevin Clark, Watt said it’s something that he’s working on and wants to do more. Clark asked Watt the one area he wants to get better at, and Watt said he’s working to play more on the right side.
“I’m trying to move around a little bit more, maybe you’ll see me on the right side a little bit more, maybe you’ll see me less on the left,” he said. “Something to keep an eye on.”
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin addressed Watt switching sides postgame on Sunday.
“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 on Sunday when asked about Watt switching sides. “So we got that going a bit.”
Watt started his career on the right side, but in 2018 he switched with Bud Dupree, which helped both of them improve their performance. With Alex Highsmith on the right side now, it’s not as if the Steelers are lacking for talent on that side, but it does make defenses shift their attention and not strictly game plan for Watt playing on the left.
But he’s used to playing on the left side now, and he talked about the difficulties playing the right side on Ben Roethlisberger’s Footbahlin’ podcast.
“It feels like I’m writing with my left hand,” Watt said. “The bend isn’t the same, just so much muscle memory on the left side, I just feel it feels so natural on the left. It just comes to me, where on the right it’s like I’m working against my body.”
Obviously, the more Watt works on the right, the more comfortable he’s going to be with it. While it’s going to be tough to retrain his muscle memory, he’s such a skilled and smart player, that even if he’s half his usual self playing on the other side, he can still make an impact. That’s especially so if the defense isn’t prepared for him to be on the other side. On two of the three snaps Watt played on the right side, Highsmith shifted and played on the left. On the other, it was Nick Herbig taking snaps at left outside linebacker.
If this something the Steelers want to continue, it’ll be interesting to see how Highsmith adapts to playing the other side. It’s not something Pittsburgh is likely going to do frequently, but it’s a good idea to give the defense a different look for a few snaps a game and potentially squeeze a little more juice out of Watt and Highsmith. If they’re both comfortable moving — and it sounds like Watt is working on becoming more comfortable — the Steelers could become even more potent defensively and confuse offenses and blockers.
