Former Star RB Slams Steelers' T.J. Watt

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a serious problem when it comes to their defense.

Despite having the highest-paid defense in the National Football League, the Steelers'  was more of a budget wallpaper than a steel curtain in their loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 7.

The team's performance on defense has caught the eye of the media and the general public, as they let an aging Joe Flacco score three passing touchdowns against their vaunted team. There was no possibility of excusing the play for injury, as the defense was largely healthy during and ahead of the game.

LeSean McCoy Calls Out T.J. Watt

One critic of the Steelers defense was former elite running back LeSean McCoy, who singled out T.J. Watt for not making his presence known during the game. McCoy had strong words for Watt during an appearance on the Speakeasy podcast with Emmanuel Acho.

“In the fourth quarter, I made a call to the police. Has anybody found T.J.? Did he play today?”McCoy said. “You got a 40-year-old quarterback in the backfield that can’t move a lick, and I see no pressure. … T.J. Watt, you made a big deal about getting paid this offseason, and you ain’t played at all today.”

Watt had one significant play during the game, joining Cam Heyward on a sack of Flacco during the fourth quarter, but other than that he was laregely invisible.

McCoy does make a good point, as Watt was one of the major contract holdups during the offseason, and the Steelers made it a point to pay him handsomely for his services before the season got started.

Watt's Season Since Extension

Now in the middle of his first season where he is set to make $44 million, Watt has just four sacks and ten tackles to show for it in six games. With the Steelers having an easy path to dominating the divisional race in the AFC North, they will need the defense to step up and take advantage.

The offense has showed up in recent weeks, but the defense was not able to take advantage of a Bengals team that had no run game up to that point and a dormant top wideout group of Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.