TJ Watt: It's been too long since the Steelers have won a Super Bowl

It’s been 15 years since the Pittsburgh Steelers won their last Super Bowl. That came in 2008 when they defeated the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII.

To T.J. Watt — who’s entered the NFL nearly 10 years later — it’s about time Pittsburgh brings home a Lombardi Trophy once again.

“It’s been too long,” Watt said this week. “I haven’t done it here yet. That’s important to me.”

The Steelers opened up training camp this week to get ready for the 2023 campaign. It’s Watt’s sixth season in the NFL, and the five-time Pro Bowlers knows it’s also been a long time since Pittsburgh won a playoff game. That happened in 2016 when the Steelers made it to the AFC Championship game, just a few months before drafting Watt.

That puts into perspective just how long it’s been since Pittsburgh fans experienced a playoff victory. Watt said while winning the Super Bowl is the goal, it’s all about the process to getting there.

“You can’t win a Super Bowl if you don’t start with a playoff game,” Watt said. “We’re always trying to take it one game at a time, but certainly, we know the end goal is to win a Super Bowl and in order to do that, you have to start with winning playoff games.”

One of the keys for Pittsburgh to get back to the mountaintop is quarterback Kenny Pickett, who was nine years old the last time the Steelers won a Super Bowl. The former Pitt standout is coming off an impressive rookie campaign and will look to build on it this year now that he’s entering camp as the starter.

His athleticism is essential to the offense. In fact, as camp got underway, he said the Steelers were able to showcase his skillset as he looked back on his first season in the league.

“There were some plays that we could put that are scripted — rollouts, bootlegs, whatever it may be — some designed quarterback runs in those big-time situations. You can add a blocker with the running back,” Pickett said at the start of camp. “But also being off-script. If they dial up a dropback and we need a first down, I can extend and do something with my legs, either buying time to make a throw or deciding it’s time to take off and get the first down, or a touchdown.

“I think it goes two-fold with being scripted and non-scripted. Hopefully, that will open up some doors for us on offense.”