For the last few years of his career, Ben Roethlisberger got to be T.J. Watt’s teammate. He watched Watt develop into the talent he is today. This talent has now earned him two separate contracts that, respectively, made him the highest-paid non-quarterback at the time.
The latter of those came this offseason, and you’d find it hard to argue Watt didn’t deserve the deal. However, the stat sheet shows a relatively quiet start to the season for him. He has five tackles, two of them being for a loss. From a pass rushing standpoint, though, Watt has yet to record a sack or quarterback pressure. Roethlisberger came to his defense during his Footbahlin podcast on Tuesday, and claimed the problem has more to do with the rest of the defensive front than anything else.
“I see T.J. Watt, four tackles, two solo, that’s all I see,” Roethlisberger said. “But do you know what I see? I see a football team that is running the ball efficiently, so they don’t have to pass. When you’re a rusher, a guy that gets sacks, when they’re not throwing the ball, you’re not getting those opportunities.”
Roethlisberger notes that the Seahawks might not have felt the need to pass since they were running the ball well, but that’s not exactly the case. Seattle threw the ball 33 times Sunday, and ran it 29 times. This is interesting because they probably could have run the ball more. They were easily gaining ground yards on the ground, with Kenneth Walker III rushing for over eight yards per carry.
However, on those pass-rushing snaps, Watt isn’t getting the easiest looks. Roethlisberger thinks some of his teammates need to step up to change that.
“Listen, T.J.’s doing everything he can,” Roethlisberger said. “He’s a stud. He is doing his job. We just gotta get more from the other guys… Where’s the other guys? Where’s the other guys stepping up and doing something to help?”
When other players step up, the Steelers get results. Jack Sawyer notched his first career sack this week, and he specifically thanked Watt for taking away enough attention to drop Darnold.
However, this is a problem the Steelers have run into. They aren’t moving Watt around the line of scrimmage much, and without any threat from the rest of the line, opponents can negate him. They haven’t had to worry about Cam Heyward or Keeanu Benton beating their one-on-one matchup.
Whatever the fix is, the Steelers need to find it quickly. Watt’s contract won’t handicap the team in the long-term, but they need more production from their new $40 million man. Zero sacks in his last six games won’t cut it, even if that’s not entirely Watt’s fault. Roethlisberger believes his teammates need to provide some help, which could get Watt back on the right track.
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