Sacks add up because no one can handle Heyward
Cameron Heyward is not aware of the history he is chasing. The Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end doesn’t particularly care, either.
Heyward’s two sacks last week against Tennessee pushed his season total to seven. If he comes up with three more over the next six games for the AFC North leaders, the Ohio State product will become the first Pittsburgh defensive lineman to reach double-digit sacks since Keith Willis racked up 12 in 1986.
Heyward took several attempts at it when asked if he knew the previous time a member of the Steelers’ defensive front reached 10 sacks. He gave up after a handful of tries.
Knowing trivia is great, but it’s not at the top of Heyward’s priority list. It’s still November. Check back with him in January.
Actually, make that February.
“There is still a lot of football to play,” Heyward said. “I do think I’m having a great year, and I just want to keep doing it. The defense allows me to do it, and the guys are counting on me to do it.”
The Steelers (8-2) are second in the NFL with 34 sacks through 10 games, thanks in large part to Heyward’s inspired return. He missed the final seven games of the 2016 regular season and all three playoff games after tearing a pectoral muscle in a loss to Dallas.
Yet rather than sulk, Heyward simply kept going as if nothing ever happened. The only difference came on Sundays, when he wore sweatpants instead of his familiar No. 97.
“You couldn’t tell he really was hurting because he was always around,” nose tackle Javon Hargrave said. “Really, that’s all it is. He didn’t miss a meeting. He was still doing the same routine. I think that’s just how Cam is as a person. He really takes this football thing really serious.”
Blame it on genetics. Heyward’s father, Craig, spent 11 years in the NFL as a bowling ball of a running back who got by as much on determination and toughness as talent.
The lessons of hard work and determination were passed down from father to son; Cameron is in his seventh NFL season, all with Pittsburgh. The proof can be found in the film room on Mondays, when Heyward’s teammates marvel at how he easily tosses aside the occasional double team.
“He has been a dominant force for us for a while, but everybody’s really just starting to recognize it more now,” said Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier, like Heyward a product of Ohio State. “I feel like he’s starting to get more appreciation for it.”
Because defensive coordinator Keith Butler moves his front three around frequently in search of a favorable matchup, Heyward often finds himself looking at an extra blocker, be it a tight end or running back. It has hardly mattered.
“He’s just bullying people right now,” outside linebacker Bud Dupree said. “He’s just running them over. He ain’t doing nothing else.”
Being surrounded by young but rapidly maturing legs doesn’t hurt either. In Hargrave and Stephon Tuitt, the Steelers have one of the most athletic front threes in the league. Throw in Dupree, Shazier, inside linebacker Vince Williams and rookie T.J. Watt, and opponents find themselves in trouble if they spend too much time focusing on just one player.
Heyward’s productivity is equal parts talent and the knowledge that if he keeps getting two and three bodies thrown his way, a teammate is on his way to the quarterback.
“He’s helping everybody … get more opportunities because everybody (else) is winning their one-on-ones,” Hargrave said. “Can’t too many people block him one on one, anyway.”