Can Steelers’ defense still be dominant without T.J. Watt? Patriots are about to find out

BOSTON — When considering all the factors, the most impressive defensive performance from Week 1 might have belonged to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

They didn’t allow the fewest points; in fact they didn’t come close. They also didn’t allow the fewest yards, which would have been true even if a full overtime period had not been played.

What the Steelers defense did do was make the afternoon a waking nightmare for Joe Burrow, a young man who spent the summer coming off a Super Bowl appearance and hearing people refer to him as the next Tom Brady. It was quite the spectacle.

The question now, however, is whether or not the Steelers’ defense can bring the same level of chaos on both the front end and the back end without the services of T.J. Watt, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year who was officially placed on injured reserve on Thursday.

Watt was — as he always is — a menace on the edge vs. the Bengals last week, recording six solo tackles, three of which were for a loss, and one of which was a sack. He also picked off a Burrow pass at the line of scrimmage and batted down another pass. He was unstoppable, right up until his final play, when he was penalized for illegal use of the hands while still getting in a shot on Burrow. Put simply, Watt wreaked havoc all day.

But Watt was hardly alone in the barrage of rushers in Burrow’s face all day, and the defensive backfield of Pittsburgh capitalized on the impromptu hunting season that broke out in Cincinnati.

Up front, Alex Highsmith had three sacks off the edge, with a forced fumble and another QB hit on his stat sheet. Robert Spillane, Arthur Maulet and five-time Pro Bowler Cameron Heyward recorded one sack apiece, with Heyward adding two more QB hits. Heyward recovered a mid-air fumble forced by Highsmith in the fourth quarter, and Maulet forced a fumble in overtime, though Pittsburgh recovered that one.

Add it all up, and the Steelers’ front had seven sacks, 11 QB hits, two forced fumbles, an interception and a fumble recovery. 

On the back end, Minkah Fitzpatrick led the team with 14 tackles, and also had an interception on Cincy’s opening drive of the season. Cameron Sutton picked off Burrow in the second quarter, and Ahkello Witherspoon had another interception in the middle of the fourth quarter. (Sutton had another early pick, but it was negated by a pass interference penalty.) Myles Jack, Levi Wallace, and Jamir Jones also recorded one pass defense apiece in the game.    

That’s one way of framing how rough the day was for Burrow. Another way would be like this: Despite being drafted by a terrible team with no O-line, and despite constantly being under fire in the pocket since his rookie season in 2020, Burrow’s passer rating on Sunday vs. Pittsburgh was the lowest single-game rating of his career at 61.7.

Even after the Bengals spent their offseason trying to fix their O-line, Burrow threw more interceptions than he’s ever thrown in a game, took the second-most sacks of any game he’s ever played in, and posted a passer rating that was 4.4 points lower than his previous worst game, which was also the first NFL game of his career.

Now enter Mac Jones and the questionable New England Patriots.

On paper, it’s a horrific matchup for New England, and it’s not at all what the young quarterback coming off a back injury sustained on an afternoon when his offense scored just seven points is looking for. Yet it’s what the schedule dictates.

For the Patriots, their focus this week likely has to be more on themselves than the opponent. Allowing a free rusher up the middle opened the door for the 278-pound Emmanuel Ogbah to crumple Jones in the backfield on one play. A safety blitz off the edge going unaccounted for led to a strip sack and a defensive touchdown. And despite the offense’s best efforts to gear up for another blitz, Jones ended up getting high-lowed by a pair of defenders.

With just three quarterback hits allowed, it wasn’t a wholly horrific day for the Patriots’ pass protection. But the impact of those plays was significant. (That last one didn’t count on the stat sheet, as Jevon Holland was flagged for roughing the passer. But it certainly counted physically.)

Now, Jones missing Thursday’s practice due to illness won’t help the Patriots as they get set to play Sunday. While setting protections at the line can kind of be a menial task at the NFL level, Jones and the offense had a bear of a time getting everything set before several snaps last weekend. Losing some on-field reps in that area won’t help at all.

But a much larger factor at play for this game is the pectoral injury suffered by Watt. He was fortunate to not have his season ended, but he was placed on IR, and he obviously won’t play this weekend. While Sunday’s defensive effort was obviously a collaborative effort, there’s no exact way to account for how much the Bengals’ offense focus on Watt distracted from some other areas. Without having to worry about Watt, the Patriots should — at least in theory — be able to better handle the likes of Highsmith and Heyward. That could in turn give Jones a tick more time in the pocket, which could then in turn lead to fewer turnovers, which could then in turn lead to a competitive football game.

The impact of Watt being out can’t be measured or computed. But we all — right along with the Patriots — will find out what the Steelers’ defense can be without No. 90 charging off the edge every snap.