Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt hasn't won a playoff game in his NFL career. He's doing everything in his power to change that against the Baltimore Ravens.
If Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt retired ahead of Saturday’s Wild Card contest against the Baltimore Ravens, he’d do so as an easy Hall of Famer. In a half-decade, he’d don a gold jacket, immortalized forever as one of the nearly 400 players to be inducted into Canton.
He’d also be the 25th member of an even more exclusive club: Hall of Famers without a playoff win.
Holding Watt back from joining the inner circle of legendary Steelers is his lack of playoff success and, more pronounced, his zero Super Bowl wins.
For an organization as revered as Pittsburgh, that’s a weight that won’t be lifted until the Lombardi Trophy returns to Western Pennsylvania.
“I say all the time that there’s a difference between guys that come back that are Super Bowl champions and guys that aren’t,” Watt said. That’s not a slight at the guys that aren’t. I’m one of those guys right now. But there’s definitely an aura and a sense to a guy that has won a Super Bowl.
“There’s a togetherness, a close-knit group of guys that when they come back for those alumni weekends, they hang out and they bond and they talk about their successes on and off the field and that Super Bowl run.”
Watt is far from the Steelers’ biggest problem come January. Time and time again, it’s been a lifeless offense ending Watt’s season, wasting an otherwise adequate defensive performance.
This time around, quarterback Russell Wilson has helped Pittsburgh look its most potent since Ben Roethlisberger retired. That’ll be necessary to beat a Ravens team that’s combined two unique talents in Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, but a four-game losing streak has once again thrust the offense into uncertainty.
The Steelers are scrambling for answers. As 10-point underdogs, they might not find them. According to their best player, it’s a matter of continuing to play a cohesive, complementary game.
“We want that,” Watt said. “Every guy in here wants that. Don’t confuse any of this lack of success for lack of effort. Everybody’s trying. We’re turning over every stone that we possibly can to be great. We want to be great. We just need to do it together. That’s not saying we haven’t, but we just need to do everything collectively and play complementary football when the time matters most.”
Pittsburgh is a long shot to win the Super Bowl. Wilson isn’t the same player he was when he took home the trophy, his pass catchers are unreliable, and a defense that once paced the league has been diced up by quarterbacks on the path forward. But Watt, at 30 years old, won’t be elite forever. Neither will defensive tackle Cameron Heyward or safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Time is running out to defeat the odds. Overcoming a more talented Baltimore team is a hell of a way to start the run Watt has dreamed about since being drafted by the Steelers in 2017.
“There’s definitely a sense of urgency because this is the playoffs in the National Football League. This is what everybody plays the game for.”
