Sitting at 5-3 at the midway point of the 2023 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot to be pleased with while knowing that they have a lot to work on, particularly on the offensive side of the football.
Pittsburgh ranks near the bottom of the league in almost every single statistical category offensively, but defensively there’s a lot to like, even with that side the football dealing with a number of key injuries in recent weeks, including losing veteran linebacker Cole Holcomb for the season and star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick remaining on the shelf with a hamstring injury.
The Steelers’ defense continues to lead the way though and is responsible for at least two wins on the season, those being against Cleveland and Baltimore. Knowing that, it’s no real surprise at the midway point of the season that a defender is the Steelers’ highest-graded player in Pro Football Focus’ metrics.
That would be star outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
Watt leads the Steelers with a grade of 91.2. He’s also the fourth-highest graded EDGE defender in football and remains firmly in the discussion for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.
“Watt is inevitable,” PFF’s Thomas Valentine writes regarding Watt as Pittsburgh’s highest-graded player. “He is tied for ninth in pressures (39) and has the fourth-highest grade among edge defenders this season. He’s on pace for his fifth double-digit sack season in seven years.”
Like Thanos, Watt is inevitable without a doubt.
He’s always going to find ways to make plays, even when opposing offenses are doing everything they possibly can to try and take him away. He’s going to push for 20-plus sacks again this season and continues to show he’s more than a pass rusher, with his interception against the Rams in coverage and his ability against the run on the boundary.
Even when he’s not getting to the quarterback for sacks, the pressures are impressive. They disrupt games just as much as sacks. His presence on the field and the attention he commands opens things up elsewhere for teammates like Alex Highsmith, who is having a great season in his own right, as well as defensive linemen like Cameron Heyward and Larry Ogunjobi.
That doesn’t even mention rookie defensive lineman Keeanu Benton, who is coming on very strong in his first NFL season, looking like a future cornerstone in the trenches defensively for the Steelers.
In fact, Benton is the Steelers’ biggest surprise at the midway point of the season, per Valentine.
“Benton has hit the ground running on the Steelers defensive line. He has 13 pressures, the seventh-most among all rookies, and the 14th-best overall grade among all interior defenders,” Valentine writes.
For a guy who wasn’t really billed as a pass rusher coming out of Wisconsin and was more known for his run defense, Benton has been a major surprise rushing the quarterback, flashing serious explosion and loose hips on the interior. He recorded his first career sack on the road in Week Three against the Las Vegas Raiders and then had a dominant showing against the Tennessee Titans in Week Nine on Thursday night, consistently putting heat on Titans’rookie quarterback Will Levis.
He hasn’t been as impactful as expected against the run, but that will come in time. What’s more impressive is that he’s taken such a massive leap forward as a pass rusher so quickly, forcing his way into the rotation for good after taking advantage of the injury to Heyward, which increased snaps and exposure to the field for the rookie.
The Steelers are in good shape defensively. They have the third-most takeaways in the NFL with 16, and they have a good-looking defensive front that got a big boost with the return of Heyward in Week Nine.
We’ll see if the defense can continue to lead the charge for the Steelers while the offense continues to try and figure it out, all while winning games.
