Thanks to 6.0 sacks, 12 quarterback hits, 19 pressures, two forced fumbles and a defensive touchdown, Pittsburgh Steelers star outside linebacker T.J. Watt was named the AFC’s Defensive Player of the Month for September on Thursday.
That largely comes as no surprise to anyone who’s watched Watt dominate the first three weeks of the season, especially fellow pass rusher Alex Highsmith.
Speaking to reporters inside the locker room Thursday ahead of the Week Four matchup against the Houston Texans, Highsmith said that it’s expected at this point with Watt, and that he goes out every single week and proves he’s the best in the world.
“He’s so deserving. He goes out every single week and proves that he’s the best in the world every single week. We all knew that was coming,” Highsmith said of Watt winning the award, according to video via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Chris Adamski on Twitter. “We wouldn’t be surprised if he does it every month. It’s awesome to be able to take the field with a guy like that. He comes out every single week and he’s consistent and shows why he’s the best in the league.”
It’s become the standard and the expectation for Watt at this point, fair or not.
Already off to a hot start to the 2023 season, becoming the first player in NFL history to have six sacks and a defensive touchdown in the first three games of a season, Watt has checked off a number of accolades so far.
In Week Two, Watt became the all-time sacks leader in franchise history for the Steelers, surpassing James Harrison with a takedown of Deshaun Watson late in the first half in the win over the Browns. He then returned an Alex Highsmith strip-sack on Watson in the fourth quarter for a score, giving him his first career regular season defensive touchdown, having scored a defensive touchdown in the 2021 Wild Card loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
After seeing Highsmith win the Week Two AFC Defensive Player of the Week award following a dominant showing against the Browns, Watt one-upped him with the Defensive Player of the Month award in September.
Through three weeks, Watt grades out at a 92.2 overall from Pro Football Focus in 177 snaps. He has a 77.0 run defense grade a 91.8 pass rush grade and a 62.3 coverage grade. In 111 pass rush reps, Watt has 19 total pressures, 12 quarterback hits, 6.0 sacks and a 16.3% pass-rush win rate.
Fully healthy after an injury-filled 2022 season that saw him miss time with a partially torn pectoral muscle and then a rib injury that limited him in the second half of the season, Watt is back to playing at the dominant level he displayed in 2021, winning the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Currently, Watt is on pace for 34 sacks, which would shatter the NFL record he currently holds with Michael Strahan at 22.5. He does that, he’ll add a second DPOY award to his resume, and could win the AFC Defensive Player of the Month award every month in 2023, like Highsmith said.
