Kovacevic: Brilliance of Watt, Highsmith buying Steelers a little time

Football can come across as more chaotic than it really is.

Even when chaos is the oft-stated objective.

"It'll be a fun play to watch on film," T.J. Watt was musing minutes after the Steelers beat the Browns, 26-22, by the margin of his own 17-yard scoop-and-score fumble recovery in the fourth quarter Monday night at Acrisure Stadium, a sequence sparked by Alex Highsmith's strip-sack of Deshaun Watson.

And Watt's right that it's fun to watch:

On infinite loop, no less.

Because for all else that went so awfully wrong for the home side here -- Kenny Pickett's lingering inability to throw a football where he wants, and Matt Canada's lingering inability to be anything close to an NFL-caliber offensive coordinator, to cite just a couple -- it wasn't anything that Watt and Highsmith couldn't somehow transform into a 1-1 start and, maybe, a chance for everyone else to breathe a bit.

As Mike Tomlin worded it afterward, "Man, 1-0 in the AFC North ... we don't take that for granted."

Mason Cole might've worded it better: “Listen, we come out here and play AFC North football and win the game. That’s a good way to get the bad taste of last week out of your mouth.”

Meaning the flop against the 49ers, of course. Which very much needed to flushed.

They shouldn't take that for granted. No one should.

Just as they shouldn't take for granted the immense impact Watt's had on this franchise forever, in addition to the one Highsmith's increasingly having with every new game on his own career log.

In this one, Watt wound up with a sack that snapped his tie with James Harrison for the franchise's all-time record at 81.5 ...

... as well as four total tackles, two for losses, four quarterback hits, a pass defensed and the fumble recovery. Which means, through two games of a 2023 that he sees as a chance to make up for lost play/performance in 2022 due to a torn pec, he's already amassed four sacks, two forced fumbles and two recoveries.

Say it with me: Best defensive player on the planet. All over again.

"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't special," Watt would say of the franchise record. "It hasn't really set in, and it probably won't until I have time to sit down and process what really happened tonight."

For his part, Highsmith wound up with the strip-sack, seven tackles, one for a loss and yeah, this little thing on the evening's opening snap from scrimmage with a mere nine ticks taken off the clock:

The pick was a gift from Cleveland tight end Harrison Bryant, popping what should've been a routine reception up into the atmosphere, and it then should've been claimed by Minkah Fitzpatrick, but after Highsmith's own pursuit paid off, he then highwired it down the sideline at full speed.

"I thought Minkah had it, it went up again, and there it was," Highsmith recalled. "I just took off. I was tired after that one."

His first touchdown since ... ?

"I don't know. Pop Warner?"

Awesome. And even though the North Shore was set ablaze with that opening score, the sequel was that much more stirring, in part because it proved pivotal in every possible way, but also because, to revisit my aforementioned chaos theory, it was more coordinated than one might've picked up at a glance.

Let's have more fun with that fun play, this time adding a few seconds before the snap:

Keep an eye on Keanu Neal. He's No. 31 up there next to Highsmith at the right edge, bouncing back and forth. That's part of the three-safety set I've been describing for readers all summer, and this formation allows the safety to poke up near the line to threaten a blitz or outright execute a blitz. But the bouncing, as I was told in this locker room, is all about taking eyes away from Highsmith.

"Just pull them toward you," Neal would tell me. "You have to sell it."

"Great job by him, really," Highsmith would tell me on the same subject. "There's no question they're looking his way."

There's also no question Highsmith swooped past Cleveland's left tackle, Jedrick Willis, with a great get-off and such a burst to the left around him that, as Highsmith confirmed for me, he made no human contact until punching the ball from Watson.

One more view, maybe my favorite:

Willis never had a prayer. Watson never had a look.

Whereas Watt and Highsmith both acknowledged they'd anticipated almost everything because of an unspecified tell on the Cleveland side.

"Yeah, we both kinda knew it was going to be play/pass," Watt recalled. "So we both got wide. Alex just had a phenomenal rush. I was coming off a chip, so I had a little room to see the play process. I just saw the ball come out and, thankfully, I didn't dive on it. I was able to scoop it and score it, and the place went bananas."

Big smile there. It was his first regular-season touchdown, too. Only he tried to give away the souvenir to Highsmith. The two are legitimately that tight, that much of a selfless tandem, on and off the field.

"I'm like, 'No, you get the ball,' " Highsmith recalled telling Watt. "I'm just so blessed to play with a guy like that ... he's one of the best to ever do it."

The plaudits would come from all over an ebullient locker room. For both.

“I'll tell you what," Markus Golden would tell me what. "I’ve got a lot of confidence in this defense, especially when you’ve got a guy like T.J. leading the way, and then Alex stepping it up. I’ve got respect for those guys, man. It’s been great just to be able to be out there playing with them. Games like this make you look forward to going out there with them more. They put on a hell of a show.”

"Hats off to our defense," Pickett would say, doffing his figurative hat in the only reasonable direction he could. "They played unbelievable. We know we've got the best player in the world, in my opinion, in 90. And 56 is close behind."

Tomlin called the contributions of Watt and Highsmith "big components," then "a major component," and he was underselling on both before adding, "It doesn't mean that we take their efforts for granted. But we need it. We expect it. And they delivered."

They won't be enough. They can't be. This marked the first time since 2010 their defense produced two touchdowns in the same game. That's found gold, even when those discovering that gold are eminently capable. And the urgency extends beyond the sickeningly stagnant offense. Cam Heyward's on IR, and Fitzpatrick was hospitalized for a chest injury in this game. Heyward's loss was felt in this one via the sloppy, sluggish run defense. Fitzpatrick's loss to an already erratic secondary would be ... yeah.

“I think we went out and did what we had to,” Highsmith would say. “That’s creating turnovers, making splash plays, getting off the field. There are a lot of ways we can improve, but I think we took a step forward this week.”

"We'll get there. All of us," Watt would say. "But we've all got things that we have to figure out. And quickly."

As stalling tactics go, chaotic or otherwise, this one's a beaut.

JOE SARGENT / GETTY

T.J. Watt returns a fumble recovery 17 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter Monday night at Acrisure Stadium.

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THE INJURIES

• Steelers: FS Minkah Fitzpatrick (chest), WR Gunner Olszewski (concussion), Elandon Roberts (neck)

• Browns: RB Nick Chubb (knee), DE Za'Darius Smith (hamstring), Greg Newsome (elbow)

Full report on our Steelers Feed.

THE INACTIVES

• Steelers inactives: CB Desmond King, RT Dylan Cook, WR Dez Fitzpatrick, QB Mason Rudolph (emergency) ... On Injured Reserve: DE Cam Heyward (groin), WR Diontae Johnson (hamstring), RB Anthony McFarland (knee) 

• Browns inactives: DT Siaki Ika, CB Kahlef Hailassie, S Ronnie Hickman, C Luke Wypler, DE Isaiah McGuire

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Next up's a flight to Las Vegas to face the Raiders this Sunday, 8:20 p.m. Eastern, at Allegiant Stadium. And the practices resume Wednesday.

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