The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their fifth-straight playoff game with their Wild Card round loss to the Buffalo Bills yesterday, and it marked the fourth one-and-done playoff loss in a row. For Pittsburgh Steelers OLB T.J. Watt, who missed the game with a knee injury, that’s all he’s known as a member of the team. Pittsburgh has yet to win a playoff game with Watt on the roster. He talked about his frustration over not having a playoff win, while saying there are still things to learn and take away.
“It’s extremely frustrating. I think the first time you guys saw me this year was in Latrobe, and said that I want to win a playoff game. This is what we do it for. All the hard work in the offseason, all the extra reps, everything that you think about, dream about in the offseason is for moments like yesterday, for those games. And to be able to put in the work to get in those positions and not capitalize makes it more frustrating,” Watt said via video posted to Steelers.com.
While it is frustrating, Watt said it doesn’t take away from the season that Pittsburgh had, and it shows them they need to go back to the drawing board.
“There’s lessons to be learned in all this, and it doesn’t take away from the good things that we’ve done. It just means that it wasn’t enough, and we need to go back to the drawing board and figure it out.”
He added that he’s still waiting to feel good at the end of a season.
“Only one team gets to feel great after the season, and just waiting to have that feeling.”
Pittsburgh would have had a much better chance to win if Watt was healthy and able to play against Buffalo, but he sprained his MCL in Week 18, which forced him to miss the game against Buffalo. Watt is Pittsburgh’s best player and arguably their most important, and he’s a true game-wrecker on defense. With him, the Steelers might have been able to pull off the upset against Buffalo, but without him, they only brought Bills’ QB Josh Allen down twice for sacks and weren’t able to force any turnovers.
Either way, it’s pretty ridiculous that Watt, drafted in 2017, doesn’t have a playoff win yet. He did talk about in the preseason how it’s been too long since the Steelers have won a playoff game, and that’s the truth. The playoff win drought has extended far too long in Pittsburgh, and this is an organization that needs to find a way to get back to winning when it actually matters. Going one-and-done in the playoffs isn’t acceptable as often as it’s happened in Pittsburgh, and while the loss doesn’t take away from Pittsburgh being able to overcome adversity and injuries and poor quarterback play outside of Mason Rudolph to win 10 games, the season doesn’t feel like a success.
With Mike Tomlin back next season, the Steelers need to find a way to start winning in the playoffs. We’ll see if they can do so.
