The Pittsburgh Steelers came crashing back down to earth in Week 2, as they suffered a disappointing 31-17 defeat at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks after beating the New York Jets in their season-opener. Heading into a Week 3 matchup with the New England Patriots, star linebacker T.J. Watt made it clear the Steelers need to be better moving forward.
Through two games, Pittsburgh’s defense has failed to meet expectations. That includes Watt, who has just five tackles and no sacks through two games. It’s admittedly a small sample size, but considering how Watt has averaged nearly one sack per game throughout the course of his career, more is expected of him than other players.
The problem, at least from Watt’s point of view, is that the Steelers are practicing well, only for their play not to translate to real games. Heading into Week 3, Watt admitted that he thinks Pittsburgh enjoyed another strong week of practice, but unless they go out and win, it won’t matter what he thinks.
“I feel good about the week we had this week, but I said that last week, so it really doesn’t matter unless we perform on Sunday,” Watt bluntly stated on Friday.
The Steelers will have a good shot to get back on track in Week 3 against the Patriots, even though they are fresh off a 33-27 victory over the Miami Dolphins. Pittsburgh has more talent on both sides of the ball than New England, so if they can simply do what they have been doing on the practice field on Sunday, they will have a good shot at earning their second win of the year.
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