The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing to take on the New York Giants in Week 8. Pittsburgh will be in front of the nation once again as they will be hosting the Giants on Monday Night Football. TJ Watt and the defense should be able to have a big week as they will be taking on one of the worst offenses in football, while Russell Wilson and the Steelers look to build on the success of their Week 7 victory.
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Alex Highsmith and TJ Watt celebrate a turnover against the Baltimore Ravens.
Watt is having a great season in 2024. He is not leading the NFL in sacks like he is accustomed to, but his imprint has been all over Pittsburgh's victories. The star edge rusher hasn't recorded a sack in two weeks, but he did have two key forced fumbles in the victory over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 6. It's always interesting to see who will be lining up across from Watt week in and week out. In Week 8, it will be the Giants' starting right tackle, Jermaine Eluemunor, who is overflowing with confidence according to his locker room media scrum. That was shown when he was asked about how he is feeling going into the matchup.
"I love it," Eluemunor said. "Shoot, I've been telling y'all I'm the most confident guy in this locker room and I think you can see that through my play this year. So I love it, you know? I want to be on an island with him all day, and you know, for us having a young guy at left tackle, we need to you know, do a little bit more obviously just to make him feel comfortable -- and we will. But that means you know, I have to do more on my side."
Eluemunor lined up across from Watt during the 2023 season, and it didn't go well for the right tackle. While he was a member of the Raiders, he gave up two sacks to the outside linebacker as Pittsburgh's defense played a big part in getting the win for the Steelers. Now Eluemunor is in a new place, but the results should be about the same. Pittsburgh fans know the defender rarely goes this long without getting to the quarterback.
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Steelers linebacker TJ Watt sacks former Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo during Pittsburgh's 2023 Week 3 victory.
Watt hasn't had many opportunities to matchup one-on-one with anybody during the 2024 season. He has mostly been going against right tackles while getting chipped by a tight end, running back, or even a receiver. There have even been plays where both a running back and tight end help out the right tackle in blocking Watt. Eluemunor spoke about taking pride in rarely ever needing help with his blocking assignments, which probably will change this week.
"I think throughout the year, you've seen that we've rarely got chips," Eluemunor said. "When it was me and AT [Andrew Thomas] in there, we rarely got chips. Obviously, we miss AT, but it's always a next man up mentality, but selfishly for me, I love going against TJ. He's a hell of a player and he makes you better, but then also, you have to be perfect against a guy like that because if you're not, he is going to embarrass you."
Andrew Thomas is New York's All-Pro left tackle who is likely out for the rest of the season. This means they have a younger, inexperienced guy at left tackle. The offense needs to allocate resources over there to make sure he can hold his own while blocking Alex Highsmith, which may present some exciting opportunities for Watt on the right side.
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The Pittsburgh Steelers' outside linebacking duo of TJ Watt (90) and Alex Highsmith (56).
Steelers Present A Difficult Decision To The Offense Of The Giants
Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll will have a difficult decision to make throughout the game on Monday night. He is going to have to help his younger tackle on the left side with Highsmith, but Watt also warrants a double team. Pittsburgh's elite outside linebacker should be set up to have one of his best performances of the 2024 season.
What do you think of Eluemunor's comments? Let us know below!
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