PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers spent the better part of four years trying to retool at outside linebacker, searching for the kind of players who could create the chaos that came so easily to James Harrison and Lamar Woodley in their primes.

The search, it seems, may finally be over.

Rookie T.J. Watt looked every bit as disruptive as big brother J.J. in his NFL debut last Sunday, picking up two sacks and adding an interception in Pittsburgh’s 21-18 victory over Cleveland. Anthony Chickillo, filling in while Bud Dupree tended to an injured shoulder, took down Browns quarterback DeShone Kizer twice and fell on a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, never one to get carried away, described Watt’s afternoon as “a good start” and downplayed the idea that Chickillo was some sort of revelation.

“Bud missed a significant time in the preseason, so that wasn’t Chickillo’s first time running with the first group,” Tomlin said.

Maybe, but the quality and the quantity of their play brought the youth movement outside linebackers coach Joey Porter laid out so bluntly over the summer to frenetic, productive life.

Porter caused a stir during training camp when he said the rotation at outside linebacker was over. That Watt and Bud Dupree would take the majority of snaps in 2017, a marked departure from a position that’s basically been a time share of sorts in recent years, mostly because the Steelers couldn’t find someone to replace the seemingly ageless James Harrison other than Harrison himself.

Yet veteran Arthur Moats and the 39-year-old Harrison played just four defensive snaps each in Cleveland, Harrison’s lightest workload in over a decade. Chickillo and Watt, meanwhile, were on the field for 62.

It’s just one game. Circumstances change. Dupree was limited in practice on Wednesday and is optimistic he’ll be ready when the Steelers welcome Minnesota in the home opener at Heinz Field on Sunday, meaning Chickillo would fall back into a reserve role. Throw in Harrison’s longevity, insane preparation and production — he posted a team-high 5 1/2 sacks in 2016 and has 15 1/2 in his unlikely second act in Pittsburgh following an 18-day retirement in 2014 — and making any broad conclusions out of four quarters is an iffy proposition at best.

Still, it looks like the kids can play.

“I don’t really have numbers of what I want to do in a game,” Watt said. “I just want to go out there and play my absolute best. I’ll never be able to play as good as I want to.”