The Pittsburgh Steelers escaped Week 1 with an ugly win over the Atlanta Falcons on the road, and a lot of that victory had to do with the defense. The unit forced three turnovers on the day, which helped the offense put more points on the board and run some time off of the clock. The Steelers' defense only allowed 10 points and held the Falcons' offense to just 226 yards in the game. They completely shut down their opponent in the second half, and a lot of that had to do with Pittsburgh's superstar, TJ Watt.
Watt is a focus of every opposing head coach when they prepare to take on the Steelers. He is one of the best game-wreckers in the NFL, coming off of a season where he led the league in sacks. He was also severely snubbed for the NFL's AP Defensive Player of the Year Award, which has him extra motivated in 2024. Atlanta's Head Coach Raheem Morris spoke to the media ahead of the matchup, and made a strong statement where he said he wouldn't allow Watt to wreck the game. Obviously, he was wrong.
Former General Manager Michael Lombardi joined The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, and they discussed the Steelers' game from Week 1. Lombardi had a ton of criticism for the way Atlanta handled the star pass rusher.
"They [Falcons] acted like they didn't know he [Watt] was going to be at the game. I don't know what Atlanta was thinking. Obviously, they thought TJ was off this week. Obviously, they missed that memo."
After the strong words and confidence from Morris ahead of the game, many thought there would be some magnificent plan to keep Watt from destroying the game. Oftentimes, the only plan Atlanta had was to call a run play that would go to the opposite side of the field. When they tried to run it at Watt, he got a tackle for a loss.
Throughout most of the game, Atlanta was entrusting their right tackle, Kaleb McGary, with blocking Watt one-on-one. That's not a good recipe to stop Watt. If a head coach is going to talk like Morris did, he needs to make sure he has a running back or a tight end on that side to help chip against Watt, or else that play likely stands no chance. Lombardi spoke about this during his appearance.
"If I'm coaching Atlanta, I'm not letting McGary block him. Look at that, that's coaching malpractice."
Lombardi had strong words for Morris and the rest of Atlanta's coaching staff. It seemed like an irresponsible game plan, especially with a 36 year-old quarterback who is coming off of an Achilles injury. Kirk Cousins obviously had limited mobility and the coaching staff didn't make many appropriate changes to the blocking schemes in order to help him.
Steelers' TJ Watt Should Be Able To Wreck The Game Once Again In Week 2
The Steelers are currently preparing to take on the Denver Broncos in their Week 2 matchup. Pittsburgh should be able to win this game with ease, but that doesn't happen often. Denver's offensive line also struggled during their Week 1 matchup, which means Watt should be able to make a serious impact on this game.
In addition to the poor offensive line play from Denver, they are also starting a rookie quarterback in Bo Nix. He didn't look great in Week 1, as he threw two bad interceptions and couldn't really settle into the game. He will probably improve some in Week 2, but it will be difficult for the young quarterback to have a good game if Watt is in his face on every play.
