In the first three games of the season, Pittsburgh Steelers star outside linebacker T.J. Watt is off to a historic start for the Black and Gold.
Watt, who leads the NFL in sacks with 6.0, quarterback hits with 12 and pressures with 19, is playing with his hair on fire, dominating each and every week. After missing seven games in the 2022 season due to a partially torn pectoral muscle and then dealing with a rib injury that limited him throughout the second half of the season when he made his return, Watt had a burning desire to prove he was still that same dominant pass rusher.
The struggles with injuries that kept him from truly being the dominant force he’s become known to be drove him throughout the offseason. Now healthy, Watt is reminding the league just how great he is.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show Friday ahead of the Week Four matchup with the Houston Texans on the road, Watt stated that he has a real hunger to play as hard as he possibly can, making up for the missed time last season.
“I can’t put my finger on one thing. All I do know is that I have this hunger this year to just play as hard as I possibly can,” Watt said to McAfee, according to video via McAfee’s Twitter handle. “I know nothing’s guaranteed. I know that the game can be taken away in a split second. I just wanna play as hard as I possibly can and not take a rep for granted.”
So far in 2023 that’s been the case.
The Steelers’ star pass rusher has hit the ground running, recording multiple sacks in two of the three games this season and adding a defensive touchdown in the Week Two win against the Cleveland Browns.
He’s on pace for 34 sacks on the season, which would shatter the single-season sacks record he shares with Michael Strahan.
Watt was already named the AFC’s Defensive Player of the Month for September for his exploits on the field. He’s off to a fantastic start and now faces some favorable matchups in the weeks ahead with the likes of George Fant on Sunday in Houston and then Morgan Moses in Week Five against the Baltimore Ravens before the Week Six bye week.
After dealing with injuries last season that took the game away from him for two months, Watt changed his training style in the offseason and has a real hunger and passion for the game. It’s showing snap after snap, of which he’s played 167 on the season, good for 78% of the Steelers’ defensive snaps through the first three games.
That burning desire and hunger is paying off, putting Watt on track to win his second Defensive Player of the Year award while putting him in position to potentially break a 22-year-old NFL record that he came close to doing just two years ago.
