for sack. Honest.It’s just sort of happening that way for the second-year Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Whitney Mercilus Color Rush Jersey , whose six quarterback takedowns through the first five weeks of the season have him tied with Cincinnati defensive end Carlos Dunlap and Houston Texans star J.J. Watt — the oldest of the three Watt brothers in the NFL — for the league lead.“I can’t get caught up in any of the statistical things,” T.J. Watt said. “I’m sure my mom thinks it’s a lot cooler than I do.”Connie Watt’s not the only one. Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler is pretty impressed too, particularly with the way the 24-year-old Watt has assimilated so quickly. Then again, Butler knows Watt’s unique family dynamic played a role in his rapid adjustment to life in the NFL.“I think he’s kind of grown up in that atmosphere,” Butler said. “He had a good idea what it took to be successful in the NFL before we got him.”Watt racked up seven sacks as a rookie in 2017 and appears ready to take a leap forward in 2018. He opened his second season by getting three sacks in Cleveland and added three more in last week’s 41-17 dismantling of Atlanta , including a strip-sack of Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan that teammate L.J. Fort fell on in the end zone for a touchdown.“We just wanted to show who we really were,” Watt said. “We weren’t proud of the performances we put out in the first few showings of the season, and we just wanted to go out there and show what we’ve been working on for the past few weeks. We just want to show the consistency now.”That has been something unattainable for the Steelers (2-2-1) through a wildly uneven opening month.The two-time defending AFC North champions find themselves in an unusual spot heading into Sunday’s visit to Cincinnati (4-1), particularly on defense. Pittsburgh is 29th in yards allowed but also tops the NFL with 19 sacks, on pace to surpass the club record of 56 set a year ago.Coach Mike Tomlin downplayed the idea the Steelers are blitzing more this season to overcome shaky play by a revamped secondary. Maybe, but Butler is certainly not shy about sending players from all over.Eight Steelers already have at least one sack. Fort picked up just the third of his six-year career against the Falcons and free-agent signee Jon Bostic’s 2 1-2 are a career high. Butler isn’t trying to read too much into his team’s success creating pressure, perhaps because it has been so spotty.The week before Pittsburgh’s pass rush harassed and harangued Ryan, it only brought down Baltimore’s Joe Flacco twice in 44 attempts as the Ravens pulled away in the second half.“Sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes you’re not,” Butler said. “Sometimes you’re good. Sometimes you’re bad.”Butler called the key to blitzing successfully a mixture of timing and disguise. Having the right people in the right places certainly helps. Pittsburgh overwhelmed the Falcons on the same day veteran cornerback Joe Haden shut down Atlanta star wide receiver Julio Jones. The Steelers also had nickelback Mike Hilton in the mix after he sat out the Baltimore loss with a right elbow injury.The 5-foot-9, 184-pound Hilton has carved out a niche as an unlikely enforcer off the edge thanks in part to impeccable timing. Hilton has a preternatural ability to guess the snap count — he proudly points out he’s jumped offside just once in his career — and his quickness and aggressiveness give Butler another option.“I try to set the tone any way I can,” said Hilton, who had two quarterback hits against Atlanta. “I wouldn’t say guys look up to me Martinas Rankin Color Rush Jersey , but they see how I play and they’re like, ‘He’s the smallest guy on the field and he’s playing physical and being aggressive.’ It just gives everybody the same energy.”The key for Pittsburgh is finding a way to sustain it. Watt’s play — massively successful one week, decidedly quiet the next — is symbolic of a unit still rounding into form. He isn’t worried about trying to keep pace with his big brother as much as he is trying to make sure he’s hardly the only one getting to the quarterback.“I don’t think anyone in this scheme is meant to eat up blocks,” Watt said. “We all have great opportunities. It’s awesome when those guys push the pocket. It allows the quarterback to step back and allows us to get a little wider rushes, and also get the quarterback in our hands.”And then — Watt and the Steelers hope — on the ground.NOTES: S Morgan Burnett (groin), LB Fort (ankle) and WR Darrius Heyward-Bey (ankle) did not practice and are unlikely to play against the Bengals. … S Terrell Edmunds (ankle) and LB Vince Williams (hamstring) were full participants for a second straight day. I keep seeing ads on TV for Clint Eastwood’s new movie “The Mule.”I’m not going to see it.Matter of fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie he’s directed and definitely none of his latest movies, mostly because they’re kind of the same:a grizzled old man finds himself in a situation that probably won’t end well for him.So I won’t see it, but the ads remind me of an old movie of his that I watched Friday night for the first time since I was a kid.It was a loose, jangly 1970s blockbuster comedy featuring Eastwood, a biker gang, a love interest who I can only assume is a prostitute, and an orangutan.It’s called “Every Which Way But Loose.”I think “The Mule” is the gritty third and final chapter of the Philo Beddoe saga begun in EWWBL.They’re both truck drivers who got themselves involved in extralegal activities that may or may not get them killed.In EWWBL, Eastwood is a truck driver who participates in illegal bare-knuckle brawling for money in various blue collar worksites (a construction site, a meat packing plant, I think possibly a junkyard...you get the idea).The brawling, I suspect, is his primary source of income because in the movie Kareem Jackson Color Rush Jersey , he drives a work truck once at the start and we never see that company again.And make no mistake, because it’s an Eastwood flick, he is outstanding at fighting all the big, dumpy fighters either in the makeshift rings he fights in or the biker gangs he singlehandedly dispatches with unnatural ease.Here is my theory of how this works:After the events of EWWBL and its sequel, “Any Which Way You Can,” Philo Beddoe (Eastwood) continues his “career” as a bareknuckle fighter and gets a reputation throughout the west coast (since the movies are set primarily in California and Colorado) as a great fighter, a fighter who will drive wherever for a good fight with a nice, juicy cash prize attached.One day, when he’s older, has lost a step, and is no longer in his fighting prime, he picks a fight with the wrong guy, someone who just beats the everloving crap out of him.This couldn’t happen at a worse time because he hasn’t had a lot of luck at fighting lately; the truck driving jobs have dried up because he’s too busy traveling and fighting for his living.So he’s broke and can’t afford to pay the bet he made with this vastly superior fighter who happens to be connected to a drug cartel.Philo and the fighter’s employer (the cartel) work out a deal so that he has to deliver “packages” for them all across the country.Nobody would dare try to intercept him while making deliveries because he’s the great Philo Beddoe.Who would dare try to cross him, right?Fast forward 30+ years later and you have Eastwood, bitter and angry, looking after an older Sondra Locke (who doesn’t look all that much better as an old woman as she did in EWWBL but that’s not saying a lot), at the beck and call of a criminal syndicate who has total power of life and death over him and his wife.I assume Clyde (the orangutan) was killed by the cartel when Beddoe tried to pull a fast one on them earlier in their relationship.He hates not having his freedom.He hates not being able to fight like he used to.He hates that this is what his life has become; and that’s the world where “The Mule” takes place.I’m sure there’s a lot about the movie I’m ignoring and there’s probably more to it than that, but I like my version better so I’m going to stick with it.You Benardrick McKinney Color Rush Jersey , my fine internet friend, may be asking yourself (and me) “What does any of this have to do with the Texans game against the Colts Sunday?”Aside from me bringing it up at some point later in the thread, nothing.I just really don’t want to make myself mad again by doing a write-up about Sunday’s game.So let’s just get to the Dog.As always, in finest Hair of the Dog tradition, all swear words have been replaced with the word [kitten] to make this safe to read at work.Which means that this week’s HotD looks like a kennel.First Quarter:RyanWestonRyanUTWestonCapt Ron(Deshaun Watson sacked.)UTWeston (to UT)Capt RonUT (to Weston)Capt Ron(Texans challenge a Colts first down.)UTRyanWeston (to UT)(Call is successfully overturned)UTCapt RonUTRyanWestonDiehard Chris (to Weston)(Alfred Blue scores a touchdown after the entire team pushes him across the end zone.Texans lead 7-0.)UTRyan (to Weston)Weston (to Chris)Capt Ron (to Weston)Diehard Chris (to Weston)UT (to Weston)RyanWeston (to Chris)Ryan (to Weston)Capt RonSecond Quarter:Weston (to Ryan)Diehard Chris (to Ryan)WestonRyanCapt RonWeston(Dre Hal picks off the Neckbeard.)RyanWeston(Luck throws a deep bomb to TY Hilton, gets to the four yard line.)Ryan (to UT)WestonUT(Colts score on ensuing play, game tied at 7.Whatevs.)Capt RonUTCapt RonUTDiehard ChrisCapt RonRyanUT(Ebron catches the ball, falls down, has a cup of tea with scone, paints a [kittening] Bob Ross landscape painting and falls into the end zone for a touchdown.Colts lead 14-7.I’m not ticked.)RyanWestonDiehard ChrisCapt RonUTMDCDiehard ChrisWestonCapt RonUT[Ed. Note:No diety struck me dead.]Weston(Vinatieri field goal.Fightin’ Beards lead 17-7.)RyanCapt RonHalftime Reactions:UTWestonLukeTim (in a rare in-studio appearance)BFDWestonTimUTThird Quarter:WestonRyan (to UT)UT(Texans challenge whether Ryan Griffin reached the end zone for a touchdown.Call stands.Put this in your back pocket, ladies and gentlemen.)UTWestonTimCapt Ron(Texans direct snap to Lamar Miller for the TD. Hirsute Midwesterners lead 17-14.)Capt RonRyanTimWestonDiehard ChrisCapt RonUT (to Capt Ron)Capt Ron (to UT)(Next Play...)(Texans’ secondary gets burned, Hairballs lead 24-14.)UTCapt RonBurnhamWestonCapt RonDiehard ChrisBFDUTFourth Quarter:WestonUTCapt RonWestonUTWestonBFDCapt RonUTCapt RonUT (to Capt Ron)TimCapt Ron (to UT)BFD (to Tim)UTCapt Ron(Ryan Griffin runs the ball to the Texans’ red zone.)UTCapt RonWeston(Clemson Connection bring the Texans to a field goal away from tying up the game, 24-21.)UTCapt RonUTMDCBFD (to Capt Ron)UTBFD (to MDC)Capt Ron(Clowney bites on a hard count by Luck, giving the Colts the first down and without timeouts to stop it.)UTBFDBurnhamWestonCapt RonUT(Texans lose to Colts in the most Texans way possible, 24-21.)Postgame Reactions:Capt RonUTTimWestonDiehard ChrisGame Balls:Offense - I’ll give it to Lamar Miller because someone should get one, I guess.Defense - Dre Hal for the interception.Special Teams - Let’s go with Trevor Daniel today.Got any alternate theories on movies you’d like to share?Want to argue about game balls?Something else on your mind?Well get your thoughts recorded in the comments below!