It was a familiar sight on Sunday inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. No. 90 racing off the edge, wreaking havoc on the game for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Star pass rusher T.J. Watt had a huge hand in helping lead the Steelers to a big 18-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons. Watt recorded four tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss against the run and recovered a fumble.
On paper, that stat line looks pretty solid. It should have been even better with some competent officiating. The refs took away two sacks and two forced fumbles from Watt, one of which led directly to the Falcons’ only touchdown of the day.
According to Watt, the official admitted at halftime that he botched the offsides penalty that negated Watt’s first strip-sack that he recovered on Kirk Cousins, leading to a Cousins 12-yard touchdown to tight end Kyle Pitts on the next play.
While that admission did nothing in the moment, it didn’t slow down Watt. And he closed out the game in impressive fashion, sacking Cousins on the final play from scrimmage to seal the 18-10 win.
For CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin, one thing that became clear for the Steelers coming out of Week 1 is that Watt, even as a defensive player, controls their destiny once again in 2024.
“Justin Fields protected the ball in his emergency debut, to be fair, but as usual, this team runs off the motor of Mike Tomlin’s most dangerous pass rusher,” Benjamin writes for CBSSports.com.
Watt was a force in Atlanta. He had a key tackle for loss on the first drive of the game on a Bijan Robinson run, helping force the Falcons to settle for a field goal.
After that, he turned up the heat.
On the day, Watt played 50 snaps, grading out at a 95.3 overall from Pro Football Focus, including an 81.4 against the run and a 94.6 as a pass rusher. He generated three pressures, had a pass-rush win rate of 17.4% and was nearly unblockable throughout the day.
The two penalties that negated two sacks and two forced fumbles wrecked what would have been an absurd day for Watt. But even knowing that, Watt was unreal against the Falcons. It showed just how valuable he is to the Steelers.
When he’s on the field, the Steelers win games consistently. When he’s hurt, they struggle. The Steelers are 1-11 without T.J. Watt in the lineup, including losing in the AFC Wild Card to the Buffalo Bills last season on the road after Watt was injured in the Week 18 season finale.
Back in 2022, Watt missed seven games with a pectoral injury. In those seven games, the Steelers went 1-6, beating only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Watt also missed two games in 2021, both losses, and one game each in 2020 and 2017 with the Steelers losing both of those games.
Could a pass rusher really be that valuable? For the Steelers, the answer is unequivocally yes.
When he’s healthy and on the field, there’s nobody better at generating impact plays. It’s a skill with Watt, not luck.
Based on how he started the 2024 season, the Steelers’ destiny is in Watt’s hands.
