Packers at Steelers Biggest Matchup: T.J. Watt vs. Zach Tom

The biggest battle on the field on Sunday will be fought by Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker and Packers right tackle Zach Tom.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Outside linebacker T.J. Watt provides the juice for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense. It will be up to Zach Tom to pull the plug for the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

Watt is one of the game’s truly great players. He entered this week’s games ranked second in the NFL with 9.5 sacks. Watt led the NFL in sacks in 2020 and set an NFL record for sacks in 2021.

Even while missing seven games last season, Watt since 2020 ranks second in sacks (52.5) and tackles for losses (60), first in quarterback hits (120) and third in forced fumbles (10). Cleveland’s Myles Garrett has one more sack in seven additional games and Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby has two more TFLs in 11 more games. Watt has 10 more quarterback hits than San Francisco’s Nick Bosa, 15 more than Garrett and 18 more than Crosby.

Some teams, such as the Packers with Rashan Gary, move their best pass rusher around the defense. That’s not how the Steelers roll, though. According to Pro Football Focus, Watt has rushed the quarterback on 256 snaps this season. The breakdown could hardly be more lopsided, with 252 rushes from the defense’s left and four from the defense’s right.

So, it will be Watt against Tom. Play after play after play.

It won’t be anything new for Tom. Long gone are the days when the opponent’s top pass rusher would attack the quarterback’s blind side by rushing from the defense’s right and against the left tackle.

Tom faced the Vikings’ Danielle Hunter in Week 8, the Raiders’ Crosby in Week 5, the Lions’ Aidan Hutchinson in Week 4 and the Saints’ Cam Jordan in Week 3.

Hunter leads the NFL in sacks and Crosby is tied with Watt and Garrett for second. By total pressures, according to PFF, Crosby is first, Hutchinson is third, Watt is ninth and Jordan is 14th.

“He’s had a really good string of challenges, and I think he’s done an awesome job,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “He had a big challenge vs. Maxx Crosby and obviously this week with T.J. Watt, but that’s going to be a big one for him.”

Steelers star T.J. Watt will face the Packers on Sunday :: Photo by Charles LeClaire/USA Today Sports Images

Tom hasn’t backed down from a challenge yet, even while playing with a brace to protect an injured knee in those games against Hutchinson and Crosby.

“I’ve really just liked how he’s handled himself,” Stenavich continued. “A guy that prepares the right way every week, plays with the right attitude, the right mentality and he’s a pro. You can see him just keep getting better and better as the season goes on. All these games are so useful for him just in terms of building that confidence and just going out there and having the belief in yourself that you can play against anybody.”

According to PFF, 55 offensive tackles have played at least 50 percent of the snaps. Tom ranks 17th in that group in its pass-blocking efficiency, which measures sacks, hits and hurries allowed per pass-protecting snap. While he allowed six pressures against Hutchinson and four against Crosby, the only sack charged to Tom was against Hunter.

On Wednesday this week, Tom declined an interview because the practice film from earlier that day had just shown up on his iPad.

“I just can’t wait for meetings to watch it,” Tom said on Thursday. “I’ve just got to watch it as soon as I can. It’s usually one or two reps from practice that I want to go see, and that’s really it. The film doesn’t upload immediately, so I’m really just sitting here trying to refresh it to see if it’s uploaded.”

Part of Tom’s film study this week, obviously, was directed at Watt. There’s no mystery in where Watt is going to line up. He hasn’t played more than three snaps at right outside linebacker since the 2021 game at Lambeau Field, when he moved away from right tackle Billy Turner to get a shot at left tackle Yosh Nijman for seven snaps.

Ultimately, though, Tom is focused mostly on himself.

“I’ll look at his pass-rush moves and I’ll try to time up his steps but, really, at the end of the day, like, you just have to go out there and play,” he said. “I’m not going to be out there if it’s third down and counting his steps as he’s coming off the ball. I might notice some small stuff like if his inside foot is up he’s probably going to go inside or if his outside foot’s up he’s probably going to go outside rush.

“But I try not to get too crazy into that because when we’re out there in a game and the crowd’s going crazy, I’m not going to be sitting there thinking, ‘All right, 1 … 2 … 3 steps, he’s going to go outside.’ You just have to go out and play football.”

More Green Bay Packers News

Here are the weekly three reasons for worry for the #Packers.

T.J. Watt, the incredible sacker of quarterbacks and creator of turnovers, is the obvious No. 1 on this list. But there are two other major danger spots this week. ⬇️https://t.co/HTr3cXMzjN

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 11, 2023

Packers-Steelers: Three reasons for optimism

Luke Musgrave on record-setting pace

Does run defense actually have some fangs?