Every time Pittsburgh Steelers star outside linebacker T.J. Watt steps between the white lines of an NFL field, he’s seemingly making his mark on league history from a statistical standpoint.
Already tied for the single-season sacks record with Hall of Famer Michael Strahan after 22.5 sacks in 2021 while winning the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award, Watt put himself in elite company in Week Seven on the road against the Los Angeles Rams, thanks to his game-altering interception to open the second half.
Along with putting himself in the same company as past NFL greats in Carolina’s Julius Peppers, Miami’s Jason Taylor and Baltimore’s Terrell Suggs, Watt now finds himself in the same company with arguably the greatest defensive player in NFL history, that being former New York Giants great Lawrence Taylor.
According to NFL Research revealed by NFL.com, Watt joined Taylor as the only players since 1982 — when individual sacks became an official statistic in the NFL — with 70-plus sacks and seven-plus interceptions over their first seven seasons.
Taylor ended up with 81.0 sacks in his first seven seasons, recording 20.5 in his seventh season in the league to help him crack the 70-plus mark. He also had eight interceptions in his first seven seasons, playing 101 total games in that time, winning three Defensive Player of the Year awards in that span, a Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, and an NFL MVP award, not to mention earning six straight first-team All-Pro accolades.
Taylor recorded his seventh interception in his 94th career game, while Watt did it in his 93rd career game. Taylor had his eighth interception in his 95th career game, so Watt has two more games to try and match or pass Taylor’s mark to distinguish himself above arguably the greatest defensive player the league has ever seen in his first seven seasons.
Watt will shatter Taylor’s mark for sacks in his first seven seasons as he’s already surpassed him and still has another eight games to go before matching Taylor’s 101-game mark.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist and 93.7 The Fan host Joe Starkey wrote Monday that Watt belongs in the Lawrence Taylor conversation. That might seem crazy at first glance, but the numbers back it up. He might not have the amount of Defensive Player of the Year awards that Taylor had in his first seven seasons, but he’s as disruptive a defender as the game has ever seen, including Taylor.
That’s the type of impact Watt has on a week-to-week basis. There are lies, damn lies, and statistics. The numbers show Watt is right there with Taylor — at least for right now.
