Pittsburgh Steelers OLB T.J. Watt is always going to drive headlines. The accolades Watt has achieved so far in his career are impressive, but the one thing his resume is missing is postseason success.
In Watt’s seven-year career, he has yet to win a playoff game, and this year he hopes to get that monkey off his back. For the Steelers, they rely on Watt heavily to win games. Without Watt in the lineup, Pittsburgh is 1-11.
Watt’s push for a playoff win, coupled with the Steelers’ inability to win without him makes him one of the top players who will influence in the 2024 NFL season according to Fox Sports.
“Watt already has a Hall of Fame resume, but he’d undoubtedly like to add some postseason success to his list of accomplishments,” wrote Carmen Vitali and David Helman. “Regardless of who plays quarterback for the Steelers, their defense is going to have to do a lot of the heavy lifting. As the unquestioned face of this franchise, a lot of Pittsburgh’s hopes in 2024 will lie with Watt.”
Simply put, Watt’s health will determine the Steelers’ season. If he is healthy for most of the 17 games, Pittsburgh has a chance to make the playoffs and make noise in them. If Watt cannot stay healthy, it will be an unbelievably hard task for Pittsburgh to make the playoffs, even with the emergence of OLB Nick Herbig.
Since his second season in 2018, Watt has averaged 12.4 sacks per year, and that includes a 2022 season where Watt only played in 10 games and was visibly not himself for a few games when he returned from injury. If we eliminate that year and his rookie season again, Watt has averaged 13.8 sacks per season. Those are game-wrecking numbers. In three of the last four seasons, Watt has led the NFL in sacks. Simply put, the Steelers will go as far as Watt takes them.
Entering his eighth season at 29 years old (he will turn 30 in October) there are questions about how healthy he can stay and if he can keep up his insane production. My bet would be that Watt will once again have another great season. Additionally, Watt’s injuries have been more freak incidents than signs he will slow down. It isn’t like Watt was dealing with lingering hamstring or groin injuries. Last year, he sprained his MCL in a collision with his teammate. I’m no doctor but that seems more like an unfortunate play than a sign that Watt’s body is beginning to break down.
Watt is an elite player who has played a huge part in helping drag mediocre Steelers teams to the playoffs. But for Watt to finally win a playoff game, he is going to need the offense to show up. For as good as Watt is, he can’t do everything. So, while Watt is a big storyline for this season, whoever is at quarterback this year for Pittsburgh, either Russell Wilson or Justin Fields, is another huge storyline. While Watt may be able to drag the Steelers to the playoffs, Wilson or Fields will have to deliver a win.
