The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t quite in Jim Mora territory as it concerns the taboo of mentioning the possibility of making the playoffs. Still, for many it feels as though aspirations of a Super Bowl are more of a pipedream right now than anything else. I don’t think Las Vegas is selling many Steelers Super Bowl odds tickets for 2023.
But nevertheless, that is and will always remain the goal for the Steelers organization internally. And certainly in the locker room. T.J. Watt has got to be as hungry for it as anybody. He has been on the roster longer than anybody without even experiencing a postseason win, since they last won in 2016 and he was drafted in 2017. But for as much as he has accomplished individually, he knows the stakes of adding ‘Super Bowl champion’ to his bio—both globally and rather personally.
“That’s one up I can have on my brother, for sure”, he told Mike Prisuta for WDVE. “Both of my brothers. It’s just something that, when we dream of playing in the NFL, you always dream of playing in a Super Bowl. Growing up, my dad always told me, every play is like your Super Bowl, and I’ve never been able to actually play in a Super Bowl, let alone win a playoff game”.
His first reference to ‘my brother’ is, of course, J.J. Watt, the 12-year veteran who just recently retired. While he won the Defensive Player of the Year Award three times, he only experiences three postseason wins in all that span, and never more than one in a single season.
A no-doubt Hall of Famer as the greatest of his era, J.J. Watt leaves behind a truly astounding resume, the only player in NFL history to record multiple seasons of 20-plus sacks being one of his many, many individual accolades.
T.J. has plenty of individual achievements as well, with a Defensive Player of the Year Award on his own shelf, along with the NFL record for the most sacks in a single season with 22.5. It’s quite possible that by the time he retires he will have as decorated a career individually as his eldest brother had.
But will have had a Super Bowl trophy in there? Sure, he’s hungry for Defensive Player of the Year Awards—after all, he’s still two behind J.J., even if it should be only one, or even none, as some would argue—but having something unique in the Watt family display case is the ultimate bragging rights.
And it sure would look nice for the trophy room inside the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex to get another shiny Lombardi to join the six already watching over the entrance. Every rookie gets acquainted with them in a hurry.
Jaded Steelers fans love to say that ‘the standard’ is now non-losing seasons, but anybody who actually listens to or watches an interview with a guy like Watt should be able to understand that nobody is more upset about the team’s recent lack of postseason success than the guys in the locker room. There is no acceptance of mediocrity. But that doesn’t make the games any easier to win.
