By its nature, football is a violent game. It’s a sport that involves grown men running into each other, with injuries always likely to happen. Despite that, there’s still a level of respect among most players. However, that doesn’t include everyone. For instance, in 2017, Tennessee Titans offensive tackle Taylor Lewan disrespected T.J. Watt by spitting in his face during a game. Pieces of this story have floated around for years, but Lewan revealed Tuesday the full encounter.
“I had a situation against the Steelers, Thursday Night Football, with T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree,” Lewan said on his Bussin’ with the Boys podcast. “They were like, ‘After the game, meet us outside the buses.’
“I’m in the locker room like, ‘I gotta go outside the buses.’ I walked out there, and I just waited by the buses, and I saw them walk out together, and I’m like, ‘I’m about to get my ass beat after a football game.’ They kept walking, thank God.”
At the time, there were reports that Lewan and Watt got into an altercation, but there didn’t seem to be any evidence on the field. Now, that report makes more sense. It doesn’t sound like things actually got physical, but they were likely extremely intense.
Lewan has talked before about spitting in Watt’s face, and he does seem apologetic. However, during this podcast, he went into further detail about what led to that moment.
“Here’s the situation. Thursday Night Football, it’s [2017], we’re getting our ass beat. This is when [Antonio Brown] caught the ball on his head. He was going crazy against us,” Lewan said. “T.J. Watt, rookie, he rushes the edge, I say something to him, he says ‘You’re a pussy, look at the scoreboard.’ And I spit, and it hit him in the forehead.”
The Steelers did absolutely dominate the Tians in that matchup, with the final score being 40-17. It was one of the Steelers’ most convincing wins that season coupled with multiple highlights. Brown was the star that day, posting 10 catches for 144 yards and three touchdowns. Even by his own unbelievable standard, that’s spectacular.
Watt didn’t have any sacks in that game, but as a rookie, he wasn’t afraid to stand up to a Pro Bowler like Lewan. It is tough to talk trash when your team is losing by almost 30. That didn’t seem to stop Lewan, though.
Trash talk happens during games, but spitting on a person is so childish. Lewan let his emotions get the better of him, and he took things too far. It sounds like he understands what he did was wrong, but that doesn’t excuse his actions.
It is good that this story had a relatively peaceful ending. Based on what Lewan said, it sounds like Watt was ready to deal out some payback, with Dupree as backup, but ultimately, he chose to just walk away. That’s the right call. Getting into a fight with Lewan after the game would’ve been a bad look.
The Steelers had just come off one of their most impressive wins of the year, and they were looking to make a Super Bowl run. Had Watt fought Lewan, he probably would’ve received some kind of discipline from the league. He might not have been one of the best defensive players in the NFL yet, but Watt was still a valuable young pass rusher. Losing him would have hurt the Steelers.
It would be interesting to hear Watt’s point of view from this experience, but he probably has bigger things on his mind. He’s chasing his second NFL Defensive Player of the Year award while also attempting to help propel the Steelers to a playoff victory. It’s doubtful he puts much thought into this incident with Lewan anymore.
