Tj Watt is expected to miss at least the next four weeks with a pectoral injury. He is more likely to return in 6-7 weeks from the time of injury. It was already a tall order to help sustain pressure with his absence. The Pittsburgh Steelers were not able to get consistent pressure on Mac Joes. This allowed him to make plays in key moments that kept the defense on the field. With that being said lets dive into the pass rushers performance in week two against the Patriots.
Pass Rush Performance Without Tj Watt
Looking back in week one against the Bengals the Pittsburgh Steelers swarmed Joe Burrow. Additionally this week they were not able to drive it home and pressure Mac Jones leading to mistakes by the young signal caller. They were not able to get a sack and only had 3 QB hits, Mac Jones at times had all day to pick apart the middle of the field. This tells me two things. Number one, the Patriots offensive line is not as bad as a lot of experts said they were with the way they were able to man handle Pittsburghs pass rushers. Number two, was week ones performance really about how good the Steelers front is? The Bengals just had a tough outing against the Cowboys who made the Bengals “improved” offensive line look pretty rough.
There is no doubt you cannot replace a guy like Tj Watt. I would like to think if he was out there this game would have gone differently with more pressure. Moving forward with all of this being said I still have faith in this defensive front. Guys like Malik Reed are still getting accustomed to the defensive scheme. Reed was very productive for the Broncos filling in during very similar situations. I expect as he learns the playbook for him to improve and generate more pressure going forward. The Steelers are going on a short week against the Cleveland Browns and I expect a huge game from the defense to bounce back. Biggest question is how will the offense look?
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