A RESTED T.J. WATT IS A DANGEROUS T.J. WATT
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — It’s going to come with the territory of being the NFL’s highest- paid defensive player. Many armchair salary cap managers are going to say no defender, no matter what their talents, should get “quarterback money.”
But Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt, fresh off signing a $122 million contract, including a whopping $80 million in guarantees, is out to prove the skeptics wrong. And for one game at least, he’s well on his way to doing that.
Watt, who basically had two full practices this summer before suiting up for the opener against the Bills, had two sacks and a forced fumble in the Steelers’ 23-16 upset win at Highmark Stadium.
But perhaps the most remarkable part of his day was forcing four holding penalties against overmatched Bills tackle Daryl Williams.
“I felt really fresh,” Watt said. “I felt fresh all week.”
Well if that’s the case, the Steelers might as well cancel the 2022 preseason. Watt sure as heck showed he didn’t need a typical summer’s worth of reps to get into shape to be his usual self on Sunday afternoon.
Not that Watt was sitting around and doing nothing during training camp. He kept himself in tip-top shape with daily rigorous sessions with Steelers strength and conditioning coaches, sometimes going through harder workouts on the sidelines on lighter practice days for the team.
It all paid off against the Bills, who scored the secondmost points in the NFL last season, averaging 31.2 points per game. Watt couldn’t be
blocked for most of the day. His strip sack in the first half ended a Bills scoring threat when they were up, 3-0. And his pressure on Cam Heyward’s fourth-quarter sack set up the blocked punt that gave the Steelers a 20-10 lead in the fourth quarter.
“He’s had a heck of a week,” Heyward said. “Not everyone can do what he does. For him to capitalize in a win like this, I’m pretty proud of him. I know it wasn’t always pretty for him. He wanted to be out there with us, but it got done. Everyone is happy, and we got the ‘W’ on top of it.”
The Bills surprisingly left Williams alone to handle Watt, who now has 51½ sacks in 63 games. He might have had four more if not for Williams hanging on for dear life on some of those holding penalties.
“He does a great job of capitalizing on what the offense gives him,” Heyward said. “He understands when he gets single coverage, when they’re going to leave him on an island with one guy, he’s going to make them pay.
That’s a tribute to him. That’s a tribute to our back end and the other guys up front. It works hand-in-hand.”
It was Heyward and Ben Roethlisberger who put the pressure on Steelers ownership last week to get Watt signed. They lobbied Steelers president Art Rooney II, with Roethlisberger commenting: “I think T.J. should get whatever the heck he wants.”
Watt spearheaded a near dominant defensive effort. The Steelers held Buffalo to its lowest point total since the Titans also held them to 16 points in October 2020. But the Bills managed to score two touchdowns in that game. The previous time the Bills only scored one touchdown in a game was September 2019 when the Patriots beat them, 16-10.
“I don’t want to say a dominant performance, but I’m very happy with where we are,” Watt said. “I love playing with this group. We fly around.”