The Steelers' Front Won the Night. Then Derrick Harmon Went Down.
T.J. Watt was everywhere: a sack, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, a pass defended, and a fumble recovery. Payton Wilson matched the tone with nine tackles and a sack. Cameron Heyward added seven stops and a quarterback hit. For most of the afternoon, Pittsburgh's defensive front made the pocket a suggestion.
Then, early in the second quarter, Derrick Harmon went down.
The Steelers defensive end was carted to the training room with a foot injury, per Yahoo Sports, and the team listed him questionable to return. He left in the second quarter, and the defense finished the day without him.
That's the cost buried under the box score. Watt and Wilson get the highlight reel. Harmon's snaps are the unglamorous ones that keep Watt fresh on third down and keep Heyward off the field for a series. The tackle totals don't show the thinning.
The offense made the defense's job harder than it needed to be. Aaron Rodgers threw 40 times for 299 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, and took five sacks for 30 yards. When the pass game swings that hard, the front has to hold. It mostly did, and Robert Spears-Jennings' interception and seven tackles helped. D.K. Metcalf's 115 receiving yards on five catches carried the other side of the ball.
My read: Harmon misses at least one game, and Pittsburgh's run defense is where that shows up first, not the pass rush. The Steelers survived the second quarter without him because Watt was unblockable and Wilson was in on everything. That's a week-to-week bailout, not a season plan. If Harmon's foot keeps him out past this one, the edge rotation gets thinner fast, and the Steelers will be asking Watt to do in 45 snaps what he did in 35.
