It’s no secret Bud Dupree and TJ Watt have one of the best bromances on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Dupree showed some love during his Wednesday appearance on Good Morning Football, explaining why Watt should win Defensive MVP honors.
“TJ is one of a kind,” Dupree told the show. “You see it each and every week. He is an animal. He’s going to come in and every day and prepare like it’s the Super Bowl. Each and every day he’s going to want to do extra work after practice.”
Watt’s work ethic and practice habits have been well-documented. As we’ve written before, he’s the combination of great talent, great smarts, and an unbeatable drive to get better. Dupree even explained how he took advantage of playing in this pandemic environment.
“[He] sees different things on film with the coaches. Maybe pick a couple people on the team’s brain, what they saw in the week we didn’t get a chance to see. He’s always going to come up with some stuff that the other team says from the TV copy. Just a couple things we can take advantage of. And it shows in his game.”
All season, Watt and teammates have discussed the value of watching the broadcast copy. In any other year, it was virtually useless. But in a year played in empty stadiums, you can hear almost all communication from an opposing quarterback and offense. Unquestionably, one reason why Watt won off the edge so consistently was knowing and timing up the snap count.
It led one of the most successful seasons a Steelers’ outside linebacker has ever had. Watt finished the year with a league-leading 15 sacks, becoming only the second Steeler to ever lead the NFL in that category since the stat became official in 1982. It puts him in frontrunner contention to win Defensive MVP. But he’s not a lock to come away with the trophy. Though not the official award, Aaron Donald was named PFWA’s Defensive MVP and there’s CB Xavien Howard lurking as a dark horse in this race. We’ll get our answer when the award is announced February 6th at NFL Honors.
Check out the whole interview below.
