The Pittsburgh Steelers' defense showed up to play during their Week 3 game against the Los Angeles Chargers and ,especially, dominated in the second half. The Chargers had a total of -4 yards starting from halftime. Four different Steelers defenders recorded a sack, including a pair from Nick Herbig. TJ Watt also got to the quarterback once, but he had a very quiet day overall, as plenty of other players racked up stats and contributed to shutting down both Justin Herbert and Taylor Heinicke, while also slowing down their dominant run game.
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Steelers' Nick Herbig celebrates with TJ Watt after massive splash play.
During the postgame press conference, Watt was asked about his impact, as well as how some people may expect him to "rescue" the team. He answered it the only way he knows how: humbly.
"It's never 'I wish that was me.' It's always 'I'm happy for him...' We have so many guys on this defense that are capable of making plays and taking games over, and I'm just trying to be a small part of it."
Watt always plays with fire, and it's obvious that every big stop means something to him with his very loud, vibrant celebrations. However, he is always ready to give the limelight to anyone else on the team. He may be the best defensive player in the league, but it's always nice to have someone else come in and carry some of the load for him. In this game, however, many players did.
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Steelers' new defensive play-caller Patrick Queen during the Friday Night Lights practice in Latrobe.
Steelers' Defensive Studs That Showed Out
Many of those game-changers made their appearances known. In a game where Patrick Queen had to face a lot of former teammates and coaches, he led the team in tackles with eight total, as well as a pass defended that could have been an interception. There had been questions about how he had done throughout the season through two weeks, as he did not have many stats. He finally made the impact that he was expected to.
Cameron Heyward also proved to everyone that he is still the same player as he was before his injury in 2023. He racked up four tackles, including two for a loss, as well as a sack and a quarterback hit. He was in the offensive backfield for a large chunk of the game, and that was part of the reason as to why the front seven was able to slow down JK Dobbins and hold him to just 44 yards on the ground.
As mentioned earlier, Herbig did great after playing for Alex Highsmith, who suffered a groin injury. He forced a fumble on one of his two sacks, as well as racking up two tackles for losses and two other hits on the quarterback. If Highsmith is out for an extended period of time, Herbig will get his chance to start on this defense and rack up all the stats while offenses focus on double-teaming Watt.
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Steelers' second year outside linebacker Nick Herbig wrecking the Chargers final few drives of Week 3 2024.
There are plenty of other stars that did not have their name called often alongside Watt, including Minkah Fitzpatrick and Joey Porter Jr. There were others that also made an impact without picking up a ton of stats, including DeShon Elliot and Donte Jackson. The Steelers have playmakers at every position on defense, so it makes sense why the spotlight would be passed around from player to player.
With that said, Watt doesn't have much of a choice but to be happy with watching his teammates steal some headlines at times. He has had his fair share of games where he carried the whole team on his back. Sometimes, the best thing he can do is take all the attention from the offensive coordinator and give someone else a great chance to ruin their opponent's gameplan. That is what Watt did, especially in the second half, and it led to pure annihilation of the Chargers' offense.
What do you think about Watt having lower numbers than normal in the Steelers' Week 3 win, as well as his mentality on it? Let us know in the comments.
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