The Steelers' last game famously featured three Watt brothers on the same playing field for the first time as they defeated the Texans, 28-21, Sept. 26 at Heinz Field.
Thursday for their practice at the UPMC-Rooney Sports Complex, they had neither of their two Watt brothers on the field as the Steelers (3-0) prepared to face the Eagles (1-2-1) on Sunday.
Fullback Derek Watt was held out of practice for the second consecutive day as he continues to work his way back from a hamstring injury suffered against the Texans. But it was All-Pro linebacker T.J. Watt being held out of practice Thursday after suiting up Wednesday.
The Steelers listed T.J. Watt, who finished third in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award voting in 2019, as not practicing due to a slight issue with knee that the team is monitoring, though he's not expected to miss any game time.
The Steelers obviously need every snap out of Watt that they can get. He set a career-high in sacks in 2019 with 14.5, or 1.5 fewer than the team record of 16 set by James Harrison in 2008. He also led the NFL with eight forced fumbles.
He has carried that strong play over to this season, his fourth in the NFL. Watt has recorded 3.5 sacks in the Steelers' first three games and was leading the NFL in that stat before the team's Week 4 game against the Titans was postponed, sending the Steelers into an impromptu bye week.
While Watt is expected to play Sunday against the Eagles, but the Steelers could be more mindful of his snap count for the next few weeks, especially since the team will now be forced to play 13 games in a row without a break moving forward because of last week's cancellation.
Watt has played 162 of the team's 192 defensive snaps in the first three games, good for 84.3 percent. That's in line with the 86.3 percent of the team's defensive snaps he played last season. Fellow outside linebacker Bud Dupree also has handled a heavy workload, playing 167 (86.9 percent) on the defensive snaps this season. Dupree played 90.4 percent of the defensive snaps in 2019.
The reason those numbers are down, even if slightly, is because of the emergence of rookie third-round draft pick Alex Highsmith, whom the Steelers are using more to spell both players.
Veteran Ola Adeniyi has seen his snap count go down each week this season, from 11 to 9 to 6 against the Texans. Highsmith, meanwhile, has held pretty steady, playing 29 snaps in the first three games while producing two tackles, including one for a loss against the Texans.
The Steelers have been impressed with the maturity level he has displayed, despite coming from a smaller program, the University of Charlotte.
"He's a good worker. He's got a great attitude and he's humble," said Steelers defensive coordinator/outside linebackers coach Keith Butler. "His teammates like him. He's hard not to like because when he came in here he realized he had to get better. The level he was playing at was different, and he understands that. He's adapted well. He's still in the learning process, and he's got two good guys to learn from in Bud and T.J. They do a good job of teaching him."
That process has been speeded up this year. With no preseason games and a truncated training camp, it's been a quick learning process. But it's also necessary.
The Steelers like Adeniyi, but because he's slightly undersized, he can get overwhelmed when teams run in his direction. At 6-foot-3, 248 pounds, Highsmith has proven to be better at holding the point of attack.
"We need the extra guy because we've got to rest those guys sometimes during games," Butler said. "We don't need a big dropoff when we do rest T.J. and Bud. He's come along quite well as far as I'm concerned. He'll get even better as the year goes along."