How Can Steelers Stop T.J. Watt Double-Team Onslaught?

Aside from an opening drive touchdown drive to begin the game, the Pittsburgh Steelers defense was very good against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, allowing just 13 points while forcing three more turnovers. Of course, two of those came by the way of superstar edge rusher T.J. Watt who registered two key punchouts on ball carriers, one of which came on the goal line. Those timely game-changing plays are what we have come to expect over the course of his Hall of Fame career.

However, his lack of production as a pass rusher is something that we aren’t used to. Through the first six games of the season, Watt’s notched 4.5 sacks and 15 pressures. That’s a fine start for the majority of NFL pass rushers but far below the standard that he’s set for himself as a Steeler. Among edge rushers this season, Watt is tied for 33rd in total pressures according to PFF. Sunday’s game against the Raiders was the first time that he was shut out in that statistic since 2018, his second season as a professional. Obviously, this isn’t signs of decline but merely how teams have adjusted their game plans to slow him down.

When you turn on the film, you rarely see #90 get true one on one pass rush opportunities. Teams are aligning tight ends to his side to help chip block  and widen the distance between him and the quarterback and even tasking the tailback to exit in his direction for help additional assistance. PFF has debuted a new stat called “chip-percentage” which shows the amount of times edge rushers deal with this issue. Their charting has Watt getting chipped on more than one-third of his pass rushing snaps entering last weekend, which matches the eye test. Not only that, he’s seeing them far more than the next closest pass rusher, Myles Garrett, who sits at 23.13%.

Watt’s preference to rush from the left side of the defense makes it easier to figure out where he’s going to be on a snap by snap basis. In the past, he’s explained that his move set is best suited for that side of the ball so while other NFL defensive coordinators have moved their best players around the formation to hunt matchups, Watt remains stagnant.

There’s obvious benefits to him taking up extra attention in the form of double teams to free up teammates for one on one opportunities but opposing offenses are going to see this is a necessary trade off. So, how can the Teryl Austin free up his best player to start having more of a consistent impact on passing downs moving forward? There are a couple different basic options beyond moving him around the defense more.

For starters, the Steelers can start being less predictable on defense by blitzing more and mixing in some more man coverage looks on the back end. One of the easiest ways to get around the tight end chip block dilemma is to simply blitz through it. Whichever player is assigned to that guy in man coverage rushes the passer immediately, preferably taking a wide path to give the edge rusher a two-way go. Below is an example from the Steelers-Browns game where Cleveland sends a blitz in the direction where the help should come free, freeing up space for Myles Garrett to win a 1v1 and convert a sack chance.

Even if the Steelers don’t feel comfortable in a blitz, man-coverage heavy world, there are other ways to get Watt freed up by simply using T/E (tackle-end) stunts. These are in every teams playbook. If in a standard four-man front, the defensive tackle should slant outside with urgency into the B-gap to capture the guard’s outside shoulder. This works like a pick play by giving the edge defender space to loop inside to the A-gap in pursuit of the quarterback. These are particularly useful if you’re seeing 6-man protection because the majority of the time, the center will turn the opposite direction to assist which leaves him blind to the game. Below is an example of Maxx Crosby, another edge rusher who sees chips at a ridiculous level, getting a sack off this exact stunt.

As the edge room continues to get healthier, they’re going to need those guys to win their individual matchups to discourage so much attention the other way. Alex Highsmith has proven that he can convert on those looks in the past and they need a big finish to the season for him. Even Nick Herbig has flashed in limited playing time and he should be able to give them good minutes as a depth piece off the bench.

Pittsburgh’s defense has been good this season. They’re fourth in points per drive, fifth in EPA/play and 12th in success rate. It’s fair to acknowledge that they played a pretty bad group of quarterbacks so far this season and even the two established starters on the schedule haven’t been 100% (Kirk Cousins, Justin Herbert). So far they’ve been able to win while keeping things simplistic as possible on the defensive end.

Things are going to get much more difficult down the stretch when they start to see the Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Joe Burrows of the world. When that happens, they need to have answers. Watt will need to be more than just a decoy and revert to becoming more of a factor as a pass rusher and their best path forward towards a dominant defense is for him to have a statistically dominant season in the backfield. Regardless of who is playing quarterback for the Steelers, if this team has any shot of making and advancing in the postseason, the defense needs to be playing an elite level. That starts by scheming up some more advantageous situations for their best player.