Steelers tasked with trying to generate pass rush while figuring out how to defend Tom Brady

Despite being a defense that thrives on getting after the quarterback, the Pittsburgh Steelers have applied about as much pressure as a leaky faucet without NFL Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt.

In four games without Watt, the Steelers have totaled three sacks, and the lack of pressure was never more glaring than last week at Buffalo. Not only did the defense fail to get a sack for the second time this season, it hit quarterback Josh Allen once — on the third play from scrimmage.

It’s a trend that began last season when Watt also battled injuries. In the five games that Watt either missed or played fewer than 50% of the snaps in 2021, other defensive players accounted for six sacks.

Add it up,and that is nine sacks in nine games and an 0-8-1 record for the Steelers.

Watt could miss three more games before he is activated from injured reserve, so the logical question is: If the Steelers can’t rush the passer, how can the defense be successful and win games without him?

“We have to be successful,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said Thursday. “The pass rush is indicative of doing other things well: stopping the run, making a team one-dimensional. It’s understanding what type of quarterback we’re getting. Is he a mobile quarterback? Is he a guy who stands in the pocket?”

This week, it will be the latter. But just not any quarterback with mobility akin to the Honus Wagner statue. It will be the most decorated passer in NFL history, 45-year-old Tom Brady, who remains one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks in his 23rd season.

Despite being a stationary target, Brady has been sacked just seven times while leading Tampa Bay to a 3-2 record two years after he quarterbacked the Bucs to the franchise’s second Super Bowl title.

“Obviously, he’s seen everything,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “More than seeing everything, he does a great job of getting rid of the ball fast. He doesn’t sit there and hold it, sit there and pat and look around and take all the time to find guys. He knows where he wants to go with the ball, and he gets it out of his hand.”

Brady’s specialty is picking apart a defense before the ball is snapped. He uses the play clock as a means to scan the defense to read coverages and find areas that he can exploit.

“He knows what he’s doing before the play happens,” said outside linebacker Alex Highsmith, the team leader with 5 1/2 sacks. “You have to be good at disguising against him. If he knows what you’re in, he’ll take advantage of it.”

That puts an onus on a defense to apply pressure to Brady before he can find time to expose the secondary. That will be magnified this week if the Steelers have to rely on backups because of injuries to cornerbacks Ahkello Witherspoon, Levi Wallace and Cam Sutton and safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds. Witherspoon has missed the past two games, and Edmunds didn’t play in the 38-3 loss at Buffalo. The other three starters either sustained or aggravated injuries in the loss.

“Make sure we’re doing the right things in terms of our rush and our rush plan,” Austin said. “It might be knowing where he wants to get the ball. It might be batted balls. Sometimes batted balls are as good as a sack. … We’re not going to fool him. We know that. We’ll try to generate the rush as best we can.

“Sometimes you take chances, sometimes you can’t.”

Austin took a chance on the third play from scrimmage at Buffalo, and the result was a 98-yard touchdown pass from Josh Allen to Gabe Davis. Fitzpatrick blitzed on the play, leaving second-year strong safety Tre Norwood — he was filling in for Edmunds — to provide help on the deep route. Norwood got there late, and Davis never was touched on his way to the end zone.

Austin won’t hesitate to take a similar chance against Brady.

“It didn’t work out there, but we never get gun shy,” Austin said. “We have confidence in guys doing things. We didn’t get it right that time, but I have more confidence than not that we’re going to get it right.”