New England Patriots - NESN.com
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt ranks among the best players in the NFL at pressuring the quarterback. However, many people underrate him when it comes to stopping the run.
Boston.com’s Conor Roche outlined five points to know about the Pittsburgh Steelers before their matchup with the New England Patriots on Sunday. He noted that teams have gained a significant number of rushing yards against Pittsburgh when they run the ball away from Watt.
“Through the first two games of the season, teams have rushed for 204 yards on 30 carries (six yards per carry) when they ran to the opposite side of star edge rusher T.J. Watt, per ESPN,” Roche wrote Saturday. “When teams have rushed in the direction of Watt, they’ve only picked up 32.5 yards on 13 carries (2.5 yards per carry).”
According to Pro Football Focus, Watt leads all edge defenders with the highest-rated run defense grade of 90.5 through the first two weeks of the season.
If the Patriots want to secure their first home win of the season, they need to carefully decide when to avoid Watt.
New England can’t avoid Watt on every single running play, or the offense will become too predictable. If that happens, the Patriots will have to rely on Drake Maye to throw the ball over 40 times, which didn’t work well in Week 1.
