Entering the Week 4 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, the expectation was — as it is every week — that star outside linebacker T.J. Watt was going to have a major impact for the Pittsburgh Steelers, especially on the road.
Obviously, that wasn’t the case, at least on the stat sheet, where Watt had just 2 assisted tackles, no sacks, no tackles for loss and just 2 quarterback pressures. The Colts chipped him time and time again, disrupting his path to the quarterback and giving right tackle Braden Smith plenty of help.
There was some criticism of Watt for the lack of production in the loss to the Colts and questioning if he should be moved around more to find mismatches. But for star defensive lineman and fellow team captain Cam Heyward, who spoke to the media Thursday, the lack of stats from Watt isn’t anything to pay attention to, because Watt’s presence alone affected the game throughout the afternoon.
The rest of the defense just didn’t step up and make the plays.
“I don’t really pay attention to stats. I think for a lot of guys, it’s not just a stat-driven thing. It’s, how’s he playing? Is he forcing people to come to his side? If they’re double and triple-teaming him, that gives one-on-ones to us,” Heyward said of Watt’s impact, according to video via Steelers Live on Twitter. “So that’s up for us to…hold up our end of the deal and make sure we capitalize on those. You know, you can sit here and talk about, he didn’t get the stats, but you know, he was still affecting the game.
“He was still making guys hold ’em, which they didn’t call. If that happens, then we gotta step up. But, not every game’s gonna be like that.”
There were some plays where Watt very clearly won the rep and was in position to make a greater impact in the game, whether that was making a tackle for loss or a sack, but he was impeded on what should have been a holding call. Ultimately, it wasn’t called by Land Clark’s crew, which allowed the Colts to get away with it.
But that’s football. It’s certainly frustrating in the moment, but there’s holding on every play in the game. They’re not going to call it every single time. They’re not even going to call it a quarter of the time. It’s just how it is. No excuses. Play through it.
It might be upsetting to Watt in the moment, but there’s nothing he can do. It’s undoubtedly frustrating to be chipped seemingly every play, too, like Watt was throughout the game against the Colts. It impacted his ability to get after the quarterback like he does week after week, which led to the limited production on the stat sheet.
That doesn’t mean Watt wasn’t impacting the game, though. When he gets that much attention, others around him need to step up. They didn’t do that, which played a role in the loss.
