The Pittsburgh Steelers understand the mistake they made a year ago. With depth behind T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith incredibly thin, the team paid the price when Watt went down with a partially torn pectoral in Week One. Without him, the Steelers’ pass rush went into the tank and the team didn’t win without him, going 1-6 in his absence last season.
Correcting their error, the Steelers made a subtle but concerted effort to improve their depth. Veteran Markus Golden was brought in on the cheap. Rookie Nick Herbig was taken in the fourth round, continuing the Wisconsin-to-Pittsburgh pipeline.
While the Steelers had always hoped their depth wouldn’t be tested too much, that’s their reality for the team’s AFC Wild Card game against the Buffalo Bills. Watt won’t play due to a sprained MCL, leaving Herbig and Golden to pick up his snaps. Speaking to reporters Thursday, DC Teryl Austin showed confidence in what the team still has.at outside linebackerÂ
“Let’s go, baby,” he said via 93.7 The Fan. “That’s the message. We got those guys here for a reason…we got those guys for this reason. In case we do lose one of our guys on the outside.”
Neither Golden nor Herbig cost a lot in contract or draft capital. But they were massive upgrades over last year’s Plan Bs: Malik Reed and Jamir Jones. Reed was too small and pushed around while Jones was a special teamer overmatched in a larger defensive role.
Austin also acknowledged the team’s depth wasn’t strong enough last year.
“We were in this position last year. I don’t think we were ready or had as much depth behind T.J. as we’d like,” Austin said. “But I think we have two solid guys this year. We all know they’re not going to be T.J., T.J. is a one-of-a-kind guy, but we like their mental makeup, the way they play.”
Mike Tomlin’s referred to the outside linebackers as the “engines” of the Steelers’ defense. And it requires more than two cylinders. Herbig and Golden don’t have the horsepower Watt does, but they’ve played well this season, combining for seven of the Steelers’ 47 sacks. With their play and other schematic wrinkles to the defense, there is a path to still get pressure and maintain the Steelers’ standard without him.
They’ll need to find ways to take down Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen, a hard man to sack. He finished 2023 as the league’s least-sacked quarterback, on just four percent of his drop backs and 24 times all year, five of which came in the Bills’ season-opening loss to the New York Jets. But as S Eric Rowe outlined, getting pressure will be key to pulling off the upset.
