Steelers LB T.J. Watt Thinks He Could Have Avoided Injury

The superstar Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker said thinking about the pec injury drove him "nuts."

PITTSBURGH -- T.J. Watt was ready for an encore. After winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2021, he opened his sixth season as a Pittsburgh Steeler with a bang by spearheading a stifling effort against the  Cincinnati Bengals' explosive offense. 

Watt recorded six tackles, a sack, three tackles for loss, an interception and a pair of passes defended. The Steelers held Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and company to just 20 points and escaped with an upset win to begin the 2022 season, but it came at a cost. Watt suffered a pectoral injury on one of his final snaps of the game and missed the next seven weeks fo the season. With his team stumbling to a 2-6 record by the time he returned, Watt kicked himself over how the injury happened and still does. 

"Even on the play I got hurt, the clock was running, they were out of timeouts. Fourth quarter. It was like 20 seconds left. I got a hand in the face penalty." Watt said in an appearance on Ben Roethlisberger's Footbahlin podcast. "But I had Joe Burrow locked up, and like my arm got stuck behind me. And that's how I tore my pec. ... Like if I just kept my hands low, there's no hands to the face, A. Then, B, if I just stay on my feet and wrap him up and take him down, like, game's over, pec is fine. The amount of times that I've drove myself nuts thinking like that."

Watt went on to reveal that he was never able to get fully healthy even when he completed a remarkably quick recovery and returned to the field in Week 9. 

He still compiled 11 quarterback hits, five tackles for loss, an interception and three passes defended over the final nine games of the regular season, as the Steelers won seven of their last nine and made a run at the final AFC Wild Card spot, but injuries nagged at and frustrated him. 

"As soon as I came back, it never really got to 100 percent," Watt said. "But then it was just like every little thing. I had a rib [injury]. I had a thumb. It was just one of those years for me where I just could never get 100% fully healthy, so it was a little frustrating."

That said, Watt feels that the offseason allowed him to actually make a full recovery and arrive to practices in 2023 injury-free. He's looking forward to proving that on the field. 

"Yeah, I feel great now. I really do," Watt said. "And it's been a great offseason for me. If you play long enough in this league, you're gonna have those years, you're gonna have those weeks, and it's just about how you respond to it. So that's what I'm looking forward to doing."

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