The Pittsburgh Steelers secured their sixth win of the 2024 season on Monday night by beating the New York Giants with a score of 26-18. The offense for the Steelers looked good, but struggled to find the red zone as the group relied on Chris Boswell to knock in four field goals in the victory. Pittsburgh's defense needed to make some plays, and they did by getting to Daniel Jones for multiple late sacks and forcing two turnovers. One of the players that made a late splash for the Steelers was TJ Watt.
Watt managed to sack Jones twice in the game, one of which was a strip-sack that Watt recovered himself. This impressive performance from the All-Pro outside linebacker came after Giants right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor made some questionable comments leading up to the game. The right tackle spoke about how he would love to be on an island with Watt and take on the elite defender with no help from his teammates. Watt was asked if he heard these comments following the game on Monday night, where he responded to the right tackle.
"Oh of course, I have a lot of respect for every single player in the NFL, everybody works hard," Watt said. "I'm just trying to get my opportunities when I get them, and make the most of them when they happen. It's not possible without scheme, we've done a great job schematically of trying to create those one-on-ones along with the back end covering just long enough and the guys up front also chewing up blockers. So it's a team effort."
The edge rusher for Pittsburgh has faced a lot of challenges throughout the 2024 season thus far. Very rarely does he get the opportunity to rush the passer with a one-on-one matchup. Usually the opponent has an extra blocker assigned to chip him to throw him off his course and make it more difficult to get to the quarterback. Sometimes he's outright fully double-teamed as well.
Due to the extra attention Watt has faced every week, his production hasn't matched what he has done in recent years to this point when it comes to sacking the quarterback. On Monday, he added two sacks to his season total, to bring it to 6.5. The biggest play Watt made was when he stripped the ball from Jones near the end of the fourth quarter. On that play, Eluemunor got his wish and was in a one-on-one matchup with Watt. Obviously, it didn't go as well as he had hoped.
Watt is self-motivated, so he didn't see anything wrong with what Eluemunor said going into the game. After the way the game went, the right tackle probably wishes he never made the bold statement. Watt also played well against Eluemunor during the 2023 season when the right tackle was with the Las Vegas Raiders, as Watt recorded 1.5 sacks against him.
Steelers' Edge Rushers Are Hitting Their Stride
Opposite of Watt is Alex Highsmith, who can wreck a game in his own way. The outside linebacker missed some time with a groin injury earlier in the year, but he seems to be at full health based on the way he played against the Giants. Highsmith also recorded two sacks, and posted 12 pressures which is a career high. When both Watt and Highsmith are playing like this, the Steelers are hard to beat. It is difficult for an offense to protect against and account for the two elite edge rushers in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh now enters their bye week with a one-game lead in the AFC North. They will try to get healthy, and then they will travel to Maryland to take on a tough opponent in the Washington Commanders.
