T.J. Watt explains the worst part of last season’s pectoral injury
Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt’s streak of four straight seasons with double-digit sacks was snapped in 2022 after he was sidelined with a pectoral injury that forced him to miss seven games.
What was perhaps more frustrating to Watt than the actual time he missed was how the injury actually happened. On a recent appearance of the “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast, Watt went into detail about the play and why he still kicks himself for how it unfolded.
"Obviously, the pec this past year was tough," he said. "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. But I had Joe Burrow locked up, and like my arm got stuck behind me. And that's how I tore my pec. The amount of times I've replayed that play in my mind -- 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 suffered the injury during a Week 1 23-20 overtime win over the Cincinnati Bengals in which he had six tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and an interception.
He was sidelined until mid-November and made his return in a 20-10 Week 10 victory over the New Orleans Saints. It took him a few games to find a rhythm, as he recorded just a half sack in his first four games back before notching four sacks in his final five games.
Even though Watt missed more than 40 percent of the season, he was still named to the Pro Bowl after recording 39 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 31 pressures and 20 hurries. It was the first time since his rookie year in 2017 that he didn’t have 10 or more sacks or 50 or more pressures, per Pro Football Focus.
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