The Pittsburgh Steelers set a franchise sack record in T.J. Watt’s rookie season. They hit 56 sacks in 2017 and stayed north of 50 for five consecutive seasons. Over the past three years, however, those numbers have dipped, and that is especially the case this year.
On a per-game basis, they are on pace for their lowest sack total in the T.J. Watt era. And that is, of course, with a seemingly fully healthy Watt. With 25 team sacks through 11 games, the Steelers are only on pace for 38 in 2024. That would match the 38 they recorded in 2016, during which the NFL still played 16-game seasons. Were this a 16-game season, they would be on pace for 36 sacks.
The last time the Steelers recorded 36 sacks or fewer, T.J. Watt was a freshman tight end at Wisconsin. That would be 2014, a year in which they only managed 33 sacks as a team. They had to pull James Harrison out of retirement, and Jason Worilds tied for the team lead in sacks with Cameron Heyward before leaving the NFL to pursue his religious calling.
That year, though, the Steelers ranked 18th defensively both in scoring and yardage. It’s a different story in 2024, as the Steelers rank fourth and ninth, respectively, in those categories. And with 7.5 sacks, T.J. Watt already has as many sacks as any Steeler had that season.
But this isn’t just about Watt, of course, because even with a stellar season, if you have one pass rusher contributing more than half of your sacks, you’re not having a good year. Behind Watt with 7.5, Heyward is having a bounce-back season with five. The problem is, nobody has stayed healthy enough or stepped up enough to fill in the rest.
Nick Herbig is third on the team with 3.5 sacks, and he has missed four games. Alex Highsmith has three sacks, and he has missed five games. Nobody else even has two sacks, and Keeanu Benton has zero. The Steelers even have half a sack from Beanie Bishop Jr., but none from Benton. Along with Watt and the other pass rushers, he is supposed to be the future of the defensive front.
Notably, the Steelers are blitzing less than they usually do, which can partially explain the decrease in sack production. The injuries to their pass rushers have played a role as well, though they still managed 40 with a banged-up Watt in 2022.
One thing worth noting is that the Steelers are on pace to give up their fewest passing touchdowns since 2008. And that is without adjusting for the differences in a 17-game schedule versus 16. With nine touchdowns allowed through 11 games, they are on pace to allow just 14. The last time they allowed under 20, T.J. Watt was still in high school, and J.J. Watt had just won his first Defensive Player of the Year Award. So it’s not all bad, even if they’re not getting the sacks everyone is asking them about.
