Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt (90) talks with Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett (95) after an NFL football game, Jan. 8, 2023, in Pittsburgh. Garrett will lead the Browns (1-0) into Pittsburgh on Monday night Sept. 18 2023 to face the Steelers (0-1).” “Watt and the Steelers (0-1) will try to bounce back after getting drilled by San Francisco when they host Cleveland (1-0) on Monday night. (AP Photo/Matt Durisko)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — T.J. Watt’s repertoire of pass rush moves runs deep.
Really deep.
Every single twist up the middle or sprint around the edge culled from years of hard work and a perfectionist’s attention to detail, all of it backed by an innate relentlessness that can make the Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker’s No. 90 a black-and-gold blur on his way to the quarterback.
Yet for all of Watt’s unique gifts, what truly separates him is harder to define but impossible to miss.
“TJ finds a way to win,” Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett said. “He’s a dog.”
Takes one to know one.
Like Watt, Garrett has spent the better part of a decade painting masterpieces in 3-to-5-second bursts.
Like Watt, Garrett serves as an agent of chaos capable of changing the trajectory of a game — or perhaps even a season — on any given snap.
And like Watt, Garrett will walk onto the Acrisure Stadium turf on Monday night when the Browns (1-0) visit the Steelers (0-1) to face an offense that spent an entire week huddled in dark rooms trying to figure out a way to stop him.
“I mean these guys, if you don’t have a plan to minimize them, they’re going to wreck the game,” Steelers center Mason Cole said.
And do it with the kind of swagger special to those whose careers are on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
Yes, that really was Garrett feigning a crossover dribble Allen Iverson-style while standing across the line of scrimmage from Cincinnati center Ted Karras last week.
It’s a move Garrett — a…
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