Alex Highsmith Says Rotating with T.J. Watt Is a Needed Change for Defense

Rob Gregson discusses Alex Highsmith's quote regarding he and T.J. Watt moving around defensively

Transcript

00:00Right now, all TJ Watt can probably think about is what his future with the Pittsburgh Steelers

00:05looks like in terms of a contract. But his teammate Alex Highsmith dropped a very important

00:10detail at OTAs last week, and it's going to make TJ's life a lot easier when he's on the field

00:16in Pittsburgh. Steelers pass rusher Alex Highsmith told the media that the Steelers plan to move he

00:26and TJ Watt around a lot more this year on defense. And this is something, quite frankly,

00:31that should have been done years ago. You look back at the last four weeks of TJ Watt's season,

00:38and he was non-existent. And that's a crazy thing to say for someone of his caliber. He recorded

00:45zero sacks in the last three regular season games, and he did not record a single stat against the

00:52Baltimore Ravens in their playoff game. And of course, he was dealing with an ankle injury.

00:57You know, late season, being run down, playing on one good ankle, that's a lot to do with it.

01:03But the fact of the matter is that the Steelers gave him little to no help. They constantly

01:08placed TJ Watt over the right tackle. Well, if I'm an opposing offensive coordinator,

01:12and I know that going into every game, TJ Watt is going to stay in front of my right tackle,

01:19my job for the week got that much easier. Instead, the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to Alex Highsmith,

01:25are finally going to look at moving he and Highsmith around. I can't underestimate how much

01:31of an impact this is going to have on the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. When you talk about

01:37lining up to defend, you constantly can be multiple if you're moving guys around the defensive line.

01:44You're giving the offensive coordinator headaches. You're giving the quarterback headaches.

01:47Why is TJ Watt over the left tackle? Now he's over the guard. Now he's back at his original spot over

01:53the right tackle. It's just more complexity for a quarterback to deal with. It's something that

01:58the Steelers, quite frankly, should have been doing for years now. Of course, Watt is good. But when you

02:03just place him on one side of the ball and let opposing offensive tackles know that they're going to

02:10have help and that he's going to be there every single time, it makes their life so much easier.

02:14And I understand that part of that is because TJ Watt doesn't like to align on the offense's left

02:20side being over the left tackle. But it doesn't matter. You have to do what is best for the football

02:26team. I know what TJ Watt wants to do. That's record sacks. That's win football games. That's

02:31actually be successful in the playoffs. And in my opinion, this is the first step into doing all of that.