Throughout Sunday’s 17-10 win by the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Baltimore Ravens in another key AFC North matchup that marked the sixth win in the last seven matchups for the Black and Gold, the outside linebacker duo of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith absolutely wrecked Baltimore’s offensive tackles.
Highsmith set a career-high with 11 pressures in the game, tying the NFL’s best mark through five games this season. He had a pivotal strip sack of Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson late in the fourth quarter, leading to a recovery by Watt, which set the Steelers up for a 42-yard Chris Boswell field goal to make it a 17-10 game.
Opposite Highsmith, Watt had a great game as well, finishing with two sacks, the fumble recovery and a batted pass at the line of scrimmage, haunting the Ravens yet again.
The duo has been fantastic this season and Sunday’s performance from the pair of pass rushers has Good Morning Football’s Jason McCourty wondering if Highsmith and Watt are the modern-day version of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, albeit in the NFL.
“Highsmith and Watt…unbelievable. I saw somebody on X yesterday asking if this is the modern MJ and Pippen, this duo?” McCourty said Monday on Good Morning Football, according to video via the Good Morning Football Twitter page. “Those two guys just get after your quarterback, they apply pressure and they make plays in the crucial moments.”
Calling any duo the modern-day version of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen — regardless of sport — is high praise.
Though Watt and Highsmith have a long, long way to go to fully earn the comparison, they are giving opposing offenses fits.
In the first five games of the season, Watt has eight sacks and is on a legitimate pace to shatter the NFL’s single-season sacks record, a record that he tied with Hall of Famer Michael Strahan in 2021 with 22.5 sacks on his way to winning that season’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.
This season, he’s been even better.
While the final stats from Sunday’s matchup against the Ravens aren’t finalized, Watt entered the game with 22 quarterback pressures, grading out at a 90.9 overall from Pro Football Focus. Highsmith’s 11 pressures give him a league-high 30 on the season.
Entering the Week Five matchup against the Ravens, Highsmith graded out at a 79.1 overall. His sack of Jackson that forced a fumble Sunday occurred in just 2.9 seconds from snap to strip, the fastest sack of the game for either team.
The duo Watt and Highsmith duo is changing games for the Steelers’ defense, just like the front office drew it up getting both locked up long-term in recent offseasons.
If the two can stay healthy, there’s no telling what type of numbers the two can put up working together. It just might be enough to get the Steelers into the playoffs and maybe go on a run, too, potentially cementing that Jordan-Pippen comparison.
