The Pittsburgh Steelers kicked off the 2026 season with a 20-13 win over the Atlanta Falcons, marking their third consecutive Week 1 win, and their sixth opening win over the last seven seasons.
The Steelers largely won off the strength of a vintage performance from T.J. Watt. The star edge rusher looked like his old self, racking up two sacks, three tackles for loss, and his first career pick-six that iced the win for Pittsburgh.
One of the more noteworthy developments from the game, though, was the intentional
lower snap count for Watt and all three of the top edge rushers for Pittsburgh. Watt played just 38 snaps, which accounted for 63 percent of defensive snaps. For reference, he hasn’t played in lower than 82 percent of the snaps in games he’s played since 2021.
Appearing on Cam Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast, Watt says he feels great and credited a lower snap count for it,
“My body feels significantly better,” Watt said. “I feel way better. And you know how it is, you want to be out there every play. You feel like any play you’re not out there is a missed opportunity to make a play. Especially guys that can make splash [plays] like you can.”
Watt credits linebackers coach C.J. Ah You for managing the reps of the edge rushers.
“I think that’s something I didn’t really recognize was in C.J.‘s repertoire was managing reps like that,” Watt said. “I think that’s a skill, honestly, to be able to rotate us. Especially, as you know, with me, Herb, Jack, and Alex, sometimes there’s three of us out there on the field at the same time… I think that’s a skill that C.J. put on display on Sunday.”
Watt and the Steelers will head to New England in Week 2 to take on the Patriots – a game they won a season ago 21-14.
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