When the Pittsburgh Steelers head east through Pennsylvania to take on the Philadelphia Eagles, nearly all eyes will be on the Eagles’ offense versus the Steelers’ defense. Part of that is the star power on both sides of the ball. You’ll see a big-time matchup between Steelers LB T.J. Watt and Eagles OT Lane Johnson.
But there will also be plenty of eyes on just how the Eagles’ passing game looks between QB Jalen Hurts and WR A.J. Brown. Issues have been festering recently and it came out in the media over the last week. No doubt the Eagles and OC Kellen Moore will be trying to placate Brown by showering him with targets. The Steelers and DC Teryl Austin are certainly aware of the threat Brown poses and are working on how to handle him.
But more passing attempts by the Eagles mean more pass-rushing attempts for Watt and company. Yet former NFL DE Chris Long favors Johnson to handle Watt.
“T.J. Watt, you’re gonna get him on Lane…” said Long on Friday’s Week 15 Preview episode of the Green Light Podcast. “By the way, I’m expecting Lane to win that matchup.”
Watt is only half a sack away from hitting 10 sacks in 2024. It’ll be his sixth season with at least 10 sacks since entering the league in 2017. And Hurts has been holding onto the ball at a higher rate than any other quarterback this season. So you take a superstar pass rusher plus a quarterback who holds the ball and an offense that will likely be force-feeding an upset wide receiver, and you think that the offensive tackle is going to win that matchup?
Well, so far this season, Lane Johnson has been winning all of his matchups. You see, Johnson hasn’t given up any sacks this season per Pro Football Focus. If that streak continues, 2024 will be his third season in the last four where he wasn’t responsible for a single sack. In fact, PFF says Johnson has been responsible for only one quarterback hit this season and seven total pressures.
But there are few pass rushers in the league like T.J. Watt. And most of those pass rushers line up over the left tackle, not over the right tackle, the position that Lane Johnson plays. And as we’ve seen this season, all it takes is one play for Watt to wreck the game.
But make no mistake, Lane Johnson will be one of the hardest tests T.J. Watt faces all season long. It will certainly be a heavyweight battle between some of the best in the business at their particular positions. And it’s part of the bigger picture between the Eagles’ offensive line and the Steelers’ defensive front. Eagles LT Jordan Mailata has a healthy amount of respect for the Steelers’ defense, and who wins up front will be a big part of deciding who wins the battle when the Eagles have the ball.
And unfortunately, T.J. Watt did not play the last time the Steelers faced the Eagles in 2022. So we can’t even look at how he fared against Lane Johnson two years ago.
