J.J. Watt certainly tried to break the Internet on Tuesday with a simple tweet, asking if the NFL and the Buffalo Bills would notice if he replaced his brother, T.J. Watt, Sunday in the Wild Card Round matchup between Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers.
With T.J. Watt out with a knee injury that could cause him to miss a couple of weeks, the Steelers have a glaring hole on defense. J.J. Watt, who has teased in the past that one of the only team’s he’d consider coming out of retirement for is the Steelers to play with T.J., raised some eyebrows Tuesday with his tweet, which featured him photoshopped in a Steelers No. 90 jersey.
It was all just a joke though. It’s not happening, period.
Still, it made for a fun conversation, and let to him being pressed on the tweet Wednesday.
J.J., appearing on the Pat McAfee Show Wednesday, stated that the Steelers are “just fine without him” and added that he’s excited to see veteran Markus Golden and rookie Nick Herbig get an opportunity to shine in the absence of T.J. Watt against the Bills.
“With the season that he [T.J.] had and with the playoffs and getting in and the team that they have and the guys, he’s definitely disappointed and devastated by not being able to be out there,” J.J. said, according to video via the McAfee Show on YouTube. “But he’s looking forward to seeing Markus Golden and Nick Herbig as well.
“Those are two guys that are really good replacements for him and really looking forward to seeing them. I was a teammate with Markus Golden down here in Arizona. Literally one of the favorite teammates I’ve ever had in my life.”
While there is no truly replacing a T.J. Watt due to his talents and ability to disrupt games and create turnovers, the Steelers are in much better shape this season from a depth perspective than they’ve ever been behind him since he came into the league in 2017.
Without Watt in the lineup, the Steelers are just 1-10 all-time. That’s a scary number to look at, but in the past the Steelers just haven’t had capable guys behind him to put into the lineup when he has gone down. That’s not the case this season.
Golden and Herbig, though they’ve combined to play just 421 total defensive snaps behind Watt and star pass rusher Alex Highsmith, combined for 7.0 sacks on the season. Herbig added two forced fumbles, while Golden had a fumble recovery to his credit. Golden generated 11 pressures on the season, while Herbig had eight.
Those numbers might not be all that eye-opening, but the two were rather productive in limited snaps this season. Now, with Watt on the shelf for at least a week, they’ll have to step up and produce in the playoffs.
It might seem like a tall task, but they’ve proven to be ready for the call all season. Though it stinks for J.J. to not be able to watch his brother in the playoffs on Sunday, he’s also looking forward to watching his former teammate in Golden, and a promising young Wisconsin product in Herbig, get after Buffalo’s Josh Allen in the Wild Card matchup.
“…[Golden] just goes out there and he is like a junkyard dog. And it’s true. He’s just the best, greatest teammate. I love him,” J.J. Watt said, according to video via the McAfee Show. “And then Herbig, a young guy from Wisconsin who has…talk about bending corners. Unbelievable bend.
“He can really get around a corner. He has got great, great pass rush moves. T.J.’s been working with him a whole lot. So really excited to see him get an extended role in this game as well. Between those two guys, it’ll be just fun.”
Even before the Steelers drafted Herbig in the fourth round out of Wisconsin, T.J. Watt was working with him, helping him improve his pass-rush arsenal at the college level. That work with Watt led to a breakout final season with the Badgers in 2022 when he recorded 11 sacks, putting him on the NFL radar.
Now in Pittsburgh with his idol, he’s been able to take his game to a new level and really came into his own in the second half of the season, making some big plays for the Steelers. He’ll get a shot to prove it on a larger stage and in a larger role on Sunday.
It’ll be fun to watch the depth pieces in Golden and Herbig in extended action. It would have been fun to see J.J. Watt come off the couch in an effort to give the Steelers some snaps in place of T.J. Watt, too. But that was all just a joke.
“…They’re doing just fine without me,” Watt said when pressed about a return.
Sure would have been fun though. What a story that would have been.
