If you’ve been on Pittsburgh Steelers Twitter lately, you’ve probably seen some of the T.J. Watt vs. Myles Garrett debate. Browns fans and Steelers fans have been going at it, as the two are two-thirds (along with Dallas Cowboy Micah Parsons) of what is shaping up to be an interesting DPOY race.
Watt and Garrett also have fairly comparable statistics, though I’d give the edge to Watt personally for his overall versatility and impact. Some others, including Mike Tomlin earlier this week, take it a step further.
Ben Roethlisberger is among this crowd and had a bold proclamation regarding Watt on his Footbahlin’ podcast today.
“He’s the best in the universe,” Roethlisberger said. “No veteran quarterback wants to play against T.J., let alone a rookie. It is not fair: what he is capable of doing and what he does to teams, what he does to other quarterbacks. One of his sacks, they didn’t even block him. What are you doing Cincinnati? How do you not have three guys on the best player on the field?”
Watt has been on a mission this season and is currently tied for the league lead with 13.5 sacks. He’s also on pace for just under 21 sacks, which is only slightly under his record-breaking 22.5 sack season.
The beauty of Watt to me is that he is the anchor of such a good defense. The Steelers have a top-five scoring defense this season, and that’s with a lot of new faces in the secondary and a lot of injuries at the linebacker position. Watt isn’t the only reason that they have been so successful, but you have to admit he’s the biggest.
In an alternate universe where defensive players could win MVP, we’d be looking at what Watt is doing right now and likely have him at least in the conversation. This is the year for it after all. No quarterback has looked great, and the media favorite right now, Jalen Hurts, has some pretty underwhelming numbers for a potential MVP. The Steelers are 7-4, and Watt’s been their best and most important player by a wide margin. If they finish 12-5 and win the North, you could likely build a logical argument for it. However, it’s a pipe dream at best, as if his brother J.J. didn’t win during his insane 2014 season, no defensive player has a real shot in this era.
Instead, we will have to settle for this universe, where he might not win the NFL’s version of the MVP award, but he has his defenders saying he’s the best in the world. And when your defenders are two future Hall of Famers, that’s a decent consolation prize.
