The Pittsburgh Steelers are gearing up to make a playoff run by heading on the road this Sunday to take on the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium (assuming the game doesn't get moved for increment weather conditions). While the Steelers managed to secure a spot in the playoffs and give themselves an opportunity by beating the division rival Baltimore Ravens in Week 18, it did cost them the services of TJ Watt, who is ruled out for the game against the Bills with a Grade II MCL sprain.
While speculation around Watt's future availability should the Steelers manage to advance in the playoffs is buzzing around, he is still in the center of another debate that Steeler Nation is heavily focused on.
Steelers' TJ Watt Being Snubbed For Defensive Player Of The Year?
That debate would be who deserves to be the 2023 AP Defensive Player of the Year. I think everyone who is a fan of the Steelers would agree that the award definitely belongs to Watt this season. He yet again led the league in sacks with 19 (he has now done that three of the last four seasons), and beat all the pass rushers out in the majority of relevant categories.
Despite Watt likely deserving to win the award for the second time in his career, the heavy favorite currently is Myles Garrett of the division rival Cleveland Browns.
When you look at the stats, and the way Garrett finished the season specifically, it doesn't really make sense that he is the favorite for the award this season. Former Steelers offensive lineman Trai Essex agreed on his podcast Pod Me Up that Garrett "doesn't deserve it" and that Watt is the best player in the league.
"The Dawg Pound is going down to Houston, hoping that your supposed candidate for Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett shows up in a big way against CJ Stroud," Essex said about Garret this season. "Supposed. Supposed. I mean he's not, he shouldn't be the Defensive Player of the Year. We all know that TJ Watt is the best defensive player in the world."
Welp, at least someone is speaking the truth. It is clear that when Watt is on the field for the Steelers, he has a tremendous impact, even when he isn't sacking the quarterback. Whether it be him forcing fumbles, batting down passes at the line of scrimmage, or running turnovers back for touchdowns, Watt has done it all this season.
On the flip side, Garrett put together another great season, but wasn't anything different than the last two seasons which he didn't win the award. Yes Garrett is an amazing player, and both him and Watt are arguably the top two defensive players in the league right now. That debate is one most won't argue. But Garrett just simply hasn't put together any seasons that were "next level" good like Watt where he led the league in sacks or tied the sack record in 2021.
The other member of the Pod Me Up podcast is Rody Rodawalt. He had some interesting comparisons for Watt, and analogies for the Watt/Garrett debate. The most absurd one is where he referred to Watt as a stat padder...
"You know who TJ Watt is this year? In years past, it was different. TJ Watt this year is Russell Westbrook. TJ Watt is a guy that is filling stats up and his team and his defense is just meh. It is just mediocre."
I understand that you can't put to much value just on the surface stats, and that makes sense. Just because a player leads the league in passing yards or a player leads the league in interceptions, it doesn't make them the best player at that given position. But to say a player is stat padding, and in the analogy compare him to a player that won the league MVP while supposedly "filling stats" is just an analogy that'll likely fall on deaf ears.
While it is unlikely Watt ends up winning the Defensive Player of the Year Award this season, which is unfortunate, I think everyone in Steeler Nation would give up all the personal recognition to see Watt back on the field at some point this season.
More must-reads: