3 takeaways from the Steelers poor performance against Bengals

2. T.J. Watt is the defense

If you’ve watched any Steelers game over the last few seasons, you know that T.J. Watt is a key disruptor and quickly becoming the best defensive player not only on the team but in the NFL. Watt was held out of Sunday’s matchup because of a groin issue that he suffered in the 2nd quarter last week against Las Vegas, and his status remained questionable after the fact until Saturday.

Without Watt, the Steelers failed to register a sack against the Bengals and ended their NFL record of 75 straight regular-season games without a sack, as well as landing minimal pressures on Burrow.

Watt makes up for injures on the defense like Tuitt and Alualu, and he is a big reason why the Steelers defense is as successful as it is, as well as the hype man. Without Watt (and Alex Highsmith) the Steelers pass rush relied on Melvin Ingram and rookie Jamir Jones to close the edges on Burrow and make the secondary’s job easier.

Watt has only missed two other games in his NFL career, so there hasn’t been much to look at without Watt playing regular-season games. Although Watt isn’t ‘the defense’ and the Steelers are missing other key defensive pieces, he appears to be a bigger impact than anyone originally thought.