Watt on Burrow: 'We’re just trying to let him know what he can expect when he comes to Pittsburgh'

(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

Coming into yesterday's Steelers-Bengals game rookie quarterback and first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft Joe Burrow was putting up solid numbers, throwing for over 300 yards in five games. He met his match against the Steelers, however, as he threw for just 213 yards and was sacked four times and hit nine times. The Bengals were also a dreadful 0 of 13 on third down. The Steelers dominated the game in every facet and won convincingly, 36-10. The Steelers have now beat the Bengals in 11 consecutive games.

“Joe Burrow is a great young quarterback and we know he’s going to be in the division for a very long time, so we kind of wanted to set the tone with him,” Joe Haden said after the game. "We didn’t want him to think he was just going to be playing Pittsburgh and throwing it wherever he wanted to, running around. We just wanted to make sure that we put pressure on him and never let him get comfortable to know he’s going to be playing against us for a long time.”

Burrow has played well in every game this season except for when he's gone against the Steelers and Ravens, two teams that are always contenders in the division and the AFC conference. T.J. Watt wanted to welcome Burrow to the division in a proper manner.

“I think it’s very important to welcome quarterbacks in the AFC North the appropriate way," T.J. Watt said. “Scoring points like that and holding the offense the way we did, we try to do that to the best of our ability. We know Joe Burrow is their franchise quarterback and we’re just trying to let him know what he can expect when he comes to Pittsburgh.”

The Steelers have respect for Burrow and his play, but they wanted to deliver a message to the young quarterback that he won't just come into Heinz Field in his first game against Pittsburgh and have a field day.

“One thousand percent,” Haden said. “It was more of a respect factor, too. Joe Burrow’s a great young quarterback and we know he’s going to be in our division for a very, very long time, so we kind of wanted to set the tone with him.”