T.J. WATT
Outside Linebacker
The idea was to send Ben Roethlisberger off with a victory in what certainly was treated as his final game at Heinz Field, and the way the Steelers accomplished that was by sending Baker Mayfield back to Cleveland after sacking him nine times, which was the most in any one of his 60 career regular season NFL games.
Contributing sacks were Henry Mondeaux, Derrick Tuszka, Cam Heyward, Alex Highsmith, and T.J. Watt.
As usual, Watt was the leader of the game-long siege, and he finished with five tackles, including three for loss, four sacks, five hits on the quarterback, and two passes defensed. Watt is the Steelers Digest Player of the Week. Watt now has 21.5 sacks on the season, which means he needs 1.5 in next Sunday's regular season finale to break Michael Strahan's single-season NFL record of 22.5.
Also considered were Najee Harris, who carried 28 times for 188 yards (6.7 average) and a 37-yard touchdown that iced the 26-14 victory in the final minute to go along with 18 receiving yards to finish with 206 yards from scrimmage; Alex Highsmith, who had seven tackles and two sacks; Cam Heyward, who contributed four tackles, a sack, and two passes batted at the line of scrimmage; Ahkello Witherspoon, who had an interception and three passes defensed; Chris Boswell, who was 4-for-4 on field goals (from 22, 30, 50, and 48 yards); and Corliss Waitman, who averaged 48.8 yards on five punts, with one inside the 20-yard line, and a 43.0 net average.
