Happy Valentine’s Day to Cleveland radio host Ken Carman, who spent the big day ranting and raving about T.J. Watt at 6 AM. Just like how everyone else celebrates the holiday.
Carman shared his thoughts on T.J. Watt losing this year’s Defensive Player of the Year Award to Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrett. Given the heads up prior to the NFL Honors ceremony he would not win, Watt skipped the event. Not present as teammate Cam Heyward was named Walter Payton Man of the Year, an overdue honor, Carman ripped Watt for his absence.Â
“I wanna know for everybody whose superhero out east over there in Pittsburgh,” Carman said on 92.3 The Fan, referring to Watt. “What did Mike Tomlin do? Did Mike Tomlin change his plans and honor Cam Heyward, who was announced as a Walter Payton Man of the year during NFL Honors? I didn’t see that. Did he do that? I didn’t see that one. I think that Mike Tomlin did that. Cam Heyward, the real leader of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“What did T.J. Watt do? Pout, moan, get on social media and complain. The same thing that you guys all yelled at Antonio Brown for. Same thing you guys all yelled at Le’Veon Bell for.”
Tomlin, who admitted that he loathes award shows, was in attendance this year to support Heyward. Joining them were teammates like RB Najee Harris along with other members of the organization like GM Omar Khan. Carman’s also referring to the tweet Watt sent shortly before the ceremony, noting he’s been on the losing end of the award before.
Watt fell short of the award in 2019 and 2020 before finally taking home the trophy in 2021, his first and so far only DPOY honor. Winning this year would’ve put him in a rare club of players to do so twice. Given his box score production compared to Garrett, his and fans’ frustration are understandable.
Watt had no obligation to be at the event and Heyward probably doesn’t care that Watt didn’t attend, understanding his frustration over losing. The idea what Watt did on social media even comes close to Bell and especially Brown is an absurd strawman argument. And Carman misses the good Watt did throughout the week, like honoring veteran and Purple Heart recipient Adam Alexander with Super Bowl tickets.
Who could forget the Browns and their leader Myles Garrett. Swinging helmets, getting suspended, calling out teammates. True leadership we can all learn from.
“They’re all worried about Myles Garrett. They ain’t worried about T.J. Watt, who didn’t win a playoff game. Myles Garrett’s won a playoff game. T.J. Watt didn’t win anything,” Carman said. “T.J. Watt has got a lot of sacks, and he is a good player. This is part of the reason why I do get perturbed, and it starts to pick at my spine, and I start to get upset with it.”
Garrett has one playoff win. Which, in fairness, was over Pittsburgh and is one more than Watt, who is 0-3 in the postseason. But Garrett’s production tanked down the stretch and he was quiet in the Browns’ postseason blowout loss. Even Pro Football Focus, which champions Garrett, gave him relatively low marks for his performance.
Carman than derailed his point to, presumably, take shots at Steelers’ fans for caring about Garrett winning the award.
“Get our name outta your mouth. Worry about your own team. Worry about your own football team. Worry about Pittsburgh. Worry about getting better at that position,” he said.
That’s a two-way street. Browns fans chirp Steelers fans. Steelers fans chirp Browns fans. That’s how it works. Carman spent the rest of the time ranting about Kenny Pickett and Ryan Clark and the Steelers’ lack of playoff success, which has nothing to do with Watt, a key reason why Pittsburgh wins. In fact, when he doesn’t play, the Steelers’ odds of winning plummet to almost zero.
Obviously, this is just red meat to a Browns fan base during an otherwise quiet part of the offseason. But we’re always willing to listen to what our “friends” in Cleveland have to say about Pittsburgh, and they’re, for some reason, just as mad as Steelers fans are about Garrett.
Check out the whole clip below.
