Plays of the Year: Alex Highsmith secures his first career pick-six

Steel City Underground presents “Plays of the Year” featuring the top runs, catches, hits and everything else in-between from the Pittsburgh Steelers 2023 season.

Monday Night Football is one of the biggest stages NFL teams can play and in Week 2 the Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the Cleveland Browns in a primetime battle. The biggest storyline for the Steelers was in how their defense played. It’s not a stretch to say that it was the Pittsburgh “D” that earned the win.

Although T.J. Watt remained a key player in determining the outcome of the game, it was Alex Highsmith that stepped up to grab the spotlight, especially with the big play to open the game.

After receiving the kickoff, Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland offense lined up for their opening series. On first down at their 25-yard line, Watson uncorked a pass that was tipped by Minkah Fitzpatrick. With great awareness, Highsmith was able to grab the deflection and take the ball into the end zone for his first NFL career pick-6.

Chris Boswell successfully converted the PAT and the Steelers were on top, 7-0, in the opening minutes of the game.

Highsmith had quite a night, recording 7 tackles (5 solo), one sack, one tackle for a loss, one pass defense, two quarterback hits, and a forced fumble. The forced fumble came on a strip-sack of Watson that Watt scooped up for the game-winning touchdown. He would be named AFC Defensive Player of the Week with his performance as the Steelers improved to 1-1 on the season with a 26-22 win over the Browns.