Here’s a stat that tells a story. Pittsburgh Steelers WR DK Metcalf had more tackles in the loss last night to the Cincinnati Bengals than the $41 million OLB T.J. Watt. The defense in general was a no-show against the Joe Flacco-led Bengals, and Watt was the biggest culprit.
LeSean McCoy wants to put out an APB on Watt because he was nowhere to be found.
“In the fourth quarter I made a call to the police. Has anybody found T.J.? Did he play today? You got a 40-year-old quarterback in the backfield that can’t move a lick, and I see no pressure,” McCoy said via Speakeasy on YouTube. “T.J. Watt, you made a big deal about getting paid this offseason and you ain’t played at all today.”
Watt had a half sack, split with Cameron Heyward, but otherwise made no plays in the Steelers’ 33-31 loss. Flacco got rid of the ball quickly to neutralize the pass rush, but Watt did not win his matchup against second-year OT Amarius Mims. It’s not like Watt impacted the game outside of the box score, either. He only had two total pressures on 36 pass-rush attempts.
The Prime broadcast showed a brief cutup of his attempts against Mims leading into his half sack, but the montage was not a favorable look overall for Watt against the young tackle.
T.J. Watt is pacing for a similar or slightly worse numbers this season than a year ago. The Steelers paid him to bounce back and compete for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award like he normally does. But this looked more like the final five games of last season where he disappeared down the stretch than the dominant player we’ve known for the last decade.
Pittsburgh’s defense didn’t show up in Cincinnati — and neither did the man who’s supposed to lead it.
