It’s a tough job when roughly 10% of what you do completely overshadows the other 90%. That is what an offensive lineman faces after a bad game in the NFL. It’s exactly what Cincinnati Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. has been dealing with over the last several days.

Brown had a rough game last Sunday against the Houston Texans. He was charged with allowing three sacks on quarterback Joe Burrow. He protected him for 33 other snaps throughout the day against the same players who beat him just a fraction of the time.

Those reps don’t linger in the minds of onlookers when Burrow gets taken down ferociously multiple times. But for the QB himself, it’s the rest of the game that matters most to him.

Joe Burrow defends Orlando Brown Jr. amid backlash

Burrow knows playing O-line is a thankless job, and Brown’s performance isn’t solely defined by his miscues.

“I think Orlando was pretty good on Sunday,” Burrow told reporters during his Wednesday press conference. “There were a couple sacks that weren’t in his control at the end of the day, there are a lot of different things that go into pass protection that aren’t just on the offensive line, and that’s what you don’t see in the media. There are very intricate details of pass protection, and a guy expecting help here, a guy expecting help from a different spot, and a lot of different things that go into it that we would never explain to you guys, and then it’s left up to interpretation.

“That’s how football works, and that’s the lineman position at the end of the day.”

What isn’t up for interpretation is Brown and the Bengals have more tough assignments ahead of them. Look no further than this Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

This is the first time in 20 years Cincinnati is facing a Pittsburgh team not coached by Mike Tomlin. Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, whom the Bengals interviewed for the same position before hiring Al Golden in 2025, has taken over the Steelers defense from Tomlin’s grasp. Among the changes Graham has implemented, one will impact Brown’s day significantly.

Brown may T.J. Watt see way more than he’s used to

One thing hasn’t changed in Pittsburgh: four-time All-Pro T.J. Watt is still the engine of the unit. Watt is having a fantastic start to 2026, posting seven pressures, 3.5 sacks, and his first career pick-six through two weeks.

He’s also been moved around more often compared to past years.

Following his rookie season when he was primarily a right EDGE, Watt has almost exclusively stayed on the left side of the Steelers’ defensive front, going up against the offense’s right tackle. He averaged 12.1 snaps per year on the right side since 2018, essentially fewer than one snap per game against the left tackle.

He’s already up to 12 snaps against LTs this season. A to Z Sports Pittsburgh’s Rob Gregson says this is indeed shift that isn’t going away.

“That is the big change with T.J. Watt,” Gregson says of Watt lining up as a right EDGE. “This year, at least through two weeks, it has been a quantified effort to make sure that not only are his snap counts down overall, but that he’s being used across the defensive line. That can sometimes be personnel matchups, whether they like him over a left tackle, Sometimes it’s based on the formations. If it’s 11 versus 12 personnel, where’s the Y tight end? Sometimes it’s just how is Watt feeling? What does he feel most comfortable doing? That tends to be over the right tackle, but this week, Amarius Mims, I don’t know if that would be the smartest objective for the Steelers and Watt.

“I think that, especially given this new system, given the snap counts, given how good Mims is, I think that we could see the Steelers certainly move him around some.”

Burrow’s confidence will be put to the test Sunday

Mims does give the Bengals a worthy counter to Watt, but Pittsburgh is being more calculated with its star pass-rusher. It’s clearly working.

Watt has lined up against Brown a grand total of six times over the last three years according to Pro Football Focus’ charting data. He may hit that number in the first half alone during Sunday’s matchup.

Brown’s main matchup will still be Alex Highsmith, who has five pressures and three sacks of his thus far, but the expected increase in exposure to Watt will be a monumental test for the Bengals. Burrow’s confidence in Brown needs to be backed up in a big way.