Coming off of the Week 12 loss to the Cleveland Browns, a game in which Browns’ star defensive lineman Myles Garrett had a monster night with three sacks in the first half and a defiant message after the game that he’s the best defender in football, there’s a lot of questions surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers and star outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
Those questions, in particular, center on Watt’s usage from an alignment standpoint.
Unlike Garrett, Watt doesn’t move around the formation much, if at all. Since the Week 8 win over the New York Giants in which he aligned at ROLB for four snaps, switching sides with Alex Highsmith, Watt has aligned in a different spot outside of his customary LOLB just three times.
Only once did he move on Thursday night against the Browns, and that was on a short-yardage play where he lined up in the A-gap between the center and left guard.
So, why don’t the Steelers under defensive coordinator Teryl Austin move Watt around more? For The Pat McAfee Show correspondent Mark Kaboly, who appeared on 93.7 The Fan’s Morning Show Monday, it partially has to do with Watt not wanting to move around.
“I don’t know how much he wants to do that. I think partially it has to do with him,” Kaboly said of Watt and the lack of creativity from an alignment standpoint, according to audio via 93.7 The Fan. “He just likes coming from…I mean you remember his rookie year, he was on the other side, didn’t really like it. They flipped him and [Bud] Dupree and then all of a sudden he took off.
“But at this point, you’re gonna have to do something a little different. I guarantee if you ask Teryl Austin, he’d be like, ‘Oh we move him around.’ Yeah, you move him around two or three times a game, if that.”
Watt seemed open to the idea of moving around a bit more following the win over the Giants, so it’s a bit of a surprise to hear Kaboly state that he believes Watt partially has a say in not moving around as much compared to other pass rushers in the NFL.
While Watt did state in June 2023 during an appearance on Ben Roethlisberger’s “Footbahlin” podcast that rushing from the left side compared to the right side is like trying to write with the other hand, and that it’s more challenging due to muscle memory, he never really put down the notion that he didn’t want to move.
But based on his usage this season and the way offenses are scheming up ways to slow him down with chips from tight ends and running backs, double teams and protection being slid his way, something has to change for the Steelers to get the most out of Watt.
That means moving him around more, especially if they don’t want to blitz to create more pressure, instead relying on rushing just four.
“I mean you can’t get to the quarterback now with four guys. Teams have adjusted to the point of getting the ball out in 2.4 seconds, 2.5 seconds, whatever it is that takes their edge rushers outta the game. So what do you do? You’re gonna have maybe blitz more, then you put more pressure on the back end of it,” Kaboly said of what might need to change for the Steelers’ defense. “I think things do have to get switched up a little bit. I think obviously it will help if [Alex] Highsmith’s able to come back, but yeah, I mean you just can’t get pressure that quickly with four guys anymore.
“Teams are just not allowing you to do it, and I don’t think they’ve made much of an, I don’t wanna say effort, they haven’t made much of a change in what their scheme is to be able to prevent that.”
That right there is the biggest criticism of the Steelers’ defense this season, particularly from a coaching standpoint. Nothing has really changed from a schematic standpoint.
Of course, the argument could be made that nothing needs to change because the defense is taking the football away at a high clip and is limiting points among the best in the league. The Steelers’ defense also has the second-best third-down conversion percentage in football, too, so things are working.
But Austin and the Steelers’ defensive coaching staff has to do something different to try and free up Watt and take advantage of matchups. It can’t just be Watt rushing from the left side of the formation and dealing with those chips, doubles and slides over and over again, and hope that when Watt gets one of those rare one-on-one matchups in a game that he takes advantage.
Teams around the league are creative in moving their dominant pieces. Right now, the Steelers aren’t. That has to change, and from the sounds of it from Kaboly’s perspective, Watt needs to change his thinking a bit, too.
