DB’s Steelers Dudes and Duds: T.J. Watt Takes Over, Run D Struggles
Derrick Bell's Steelers Dudes and Duds: T.J. Watt takes over yet another game. The run defense struggles for the first time.
The Pittsburgh Steelers found a way to secure victory, defeating the New York Giants 26–18 in a game that had plenty of twists and turns. Despite some red zone inefficiencies, the team got a boost from their special teams and superstar pass rusher. Mike Tomlin’s crew heads into the bye week at 6-2 with sole possession of the AFC North. But before we get there, let’s talk about some standout performances from an eventful night at Acrisure Stadium.
Dude: OLB T.J. Watt
Earlier this week, Giants right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor made headlines by stating that he wanted to be left on an island with T.J. Watt in pass protection. Be careful what you wish for. The former Defensive Player of the Year had several quick wins including drawing a hold with quick inside swim move. With New York driving for a potential game-tying score late in the fourth quarter, Watt turned a short corner and striped Giants quarterback Daniel Jones and recovered the ball for a massive turnover. These types of clutch plays will be on replay when he gets back inducted into Canton one day.
Dud: RT Broderick Jones
At this point, it feels extremely repetitive and borderline silly to continue putting Broderick Jones on this list but it’s not as if the placement isn’t deserved. He continues to struggle immensely in all facets of the game in his second season. He was tagged with four pressures and gave up a sack to Giants edge rusher Azeez Ojulari, a former teammate of his at Georgia. The real bummer was an early facemask penalty which took a touchdown off the board in the first quarter. Those struggles would be a lot easier to mask if he was at least a net positive in the run game but that hasn’t been the case this year either. Things continue to look bleak regarding his development.
Dude: QB Russell Wilson
Mike Tomlin’s decision to turn to Russell Wilson despite the Steelers winning record looks like the correct decision so far. On Monday Night Football against the Giants, he threw the ball as well as I have seen him throw it years. He got things started with an accurate throw to Darnell Washington on a bootleg. In the second half, he beat an all out blitz with a deep shot to Calvin Austin III for a huge touchdown. His best play came off play action, driving a ball 45-yards on a line to George Pickens for a huge score. The fumble late in the fourth quarter was potentially disastrous but he was even better than the box score indicated and his willingness to push the ball down the field has been welcomed.
Dude: WR/PR Calvin Austin III
If you’ve been watching the All-22 every week, you’d know that Calvin Austin III has been getting open more consistently than he did last year. It felt like just a matter of time before he was able to break a game open with his speed and that’s exactly what we saw happen last night. With the game knotted up at 9 all, Austin took a punt back 80+ yards to the house for a score that ignited the home crowd to say the least. Shortly after that came the aforementioned deep ball from Wilson where he smoked his man aligned in off coverage. Based on his trajectory, Austin looks like a day three hit and someone who can be counted on a complimentary player who impacts the game in multiple ways despite some size limitations.
Dud: CB Donte Jackson
Early in this game, the matchup between Donte Jackson and Darius Slayton was pretty one-sided. He was beat over the top for a couple explosive plays down the field and a missed turned one of those into an even bigger gain. To his credit, this game wasn’t a complete disaster because of the way he bounced back from his early struggles. He had a couple high quality reps in coverage in the second half, including not falling for a double move down the left sideline. Jackson’s tape has been a little more high variance than his numbers would suggest but there’s nothing to be concerned with as of right now.
Dude: EDGE Alex Highsmith
I was a week early on the Alex Highsmith multi-sack performance but he was fantastic under the lights in this one. Due to injuries on the other side, he had a very favorable matchup to say the least but he did exactly what was expected on him: dominate. The Charlotte product registered a career high dozen pressures according to Next Gen Stats, six of which were hits on the passer. It felt like he was getting off the ball extremely quick which was allowing him to get into the backfield and cause chaos consistently. Pittsburgh’s edge duo was on fire on a night where the rest of the defense wasn’t quite up to their normal standard.
Dude: RB Najee Harris
It took a little bit for Najee Harris to find his footing in this new rushing scheme under offensive coordinator Arthur Smith but he’s certainly found his groove in October. Monday night was his third straight game with over 100 yards of rushing output, which is his longest streak of such games in his professional career. The Steelers offensive line has been creating cleaner running lanes but Harris has been creating for himself as well. Even after the team declined his fifth-year option, he’s been a pretty integral part of their offensive identity this season. If he continues to produce in this fashion, Harris will be set up for a nice payday this offseason.
Dud: Steelers Run Defense
It feels appropriate to group the entire unit in to this category after the Giants ran for 157 yards at a 6.3 clip. Pittsburgh’s interior defenders sans Cam Heyward didn’t seem to hold up well at the point of attack in this one and there were a couple poor run fits on the back end. Rookie tailback Tyron Tracy found daylight at the second and third levels far too often in this one. All of this came against a pretty poor offensive line which is notable. Pittsburgh’s run defense had been stellar to this point but needs to regroup heading into the bye week.
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