Steelers rumors: Matt Canada replacement ghosted, Kenny Pickett bye week plans, T.J. Watt sack record?
- Could T.J. Watt break the single-season sack record?
- A former player has an interesting idea for Kenny Pickett's bye week
- One former coordinator/player wants to take Matt Canada's job
By Josh Wilson
A win over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 5 has Pittsburgh Steelers fans flying high into the bye week. Here's the latest on what to know with a week of no stakes ahead.
T.J. Watt could flirt with sack record
T.J. Watt tied Michael Strahan's single-season sack record of 22.5 in 2021. The record stood for exactly two decades, with Watt tying it two years ago. Last season, Watt missed time with a pectoral injury, which slowed any chances he might have had at breaking the record that year.
With a hot start in 2022, though, Watt has an awesome opportunity at finally getting his name etched in the record books alone, putting Strahan firmly in that No. 2 spot.
After zero sacks logged in Week 4 against the Houston Texans on rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, Watt put Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson on the ground twice in Week 5. Watt now has 15 quarterback hits, eight of those registering as sacks which leads the NFL.
That puts Watt on pace for a whopping 27 sacks this season. He only needs to average 1.25 per game the rest of the year to break the record he tied in 2021 which for him is an achievable rate, assuming health sticks. Of course, 2021 was the first year of the 17-game era, so Watt did and still does have an extra game than Strahan to get it done.
To match Strahan's pace of his record-setting season and become the indisputable best pass rusher (purely looking at season sacks) in a single season, he would need to register 24 sacks. It's possible!